


Synchronism

by ICantBeWittyOnCall



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ahsoka has a daughter cause I said so, F/M, Force User, Frenemies, Friends to Lovers, Mostly Canon Compliant, Resistance, Romance, Slow Burn, Togrutan, cantina shenanigans, now with smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2020-12-24 17:20:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 44,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21103133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ICantBeWittyOnCall/pseuds/ICantBeWittyOnCall
Summary: “I’m in the First Order’s firing line every day, you don’t see me complaining. ‘Cause I can’t just stand by while kids get kidnapped and people are slaughtered so they can have a new factory. Obviously, you don’t feel the same way or you’d be taking this a bit more seriously.”The ends of her lekku curled in anger, “Kriff, do you want to get down off your high horse for just a moment? You lot are so karking deluded. There’s more going on in the universe than your little galactic tiff.”“Little? If that’s how you want to justify standing by and doing nothing—”Xó clicked her tongue, “You two are acting like younglings.” Turning to her both Alaya and Poe started to talk before being cut off by her pressing a blue finger to each of their lips. “If you’re done measuring dicks, we could all get something out of this.”****Poe and Alaya probably would never have met if not for the oncoming war, and neither one of them is sure whether that's a good thing or not. But now they're in this mess together, and there's no one else they'd rather be in it with.





	1. Chapter 1

The clothes that had been given to him were uncomfortable and stiff, the black corded auropyle pants pinched awkwardly in all the wrong places and the fitted cerlin jacket was garishly bright for the pilot's taste. Whoever these had been… requisitioned from must have been one rich son of a bitch. His reflection’s chest deflated as he sighed, serves him right he just had to whine to the general about looking like some outer core vagrant on all of his missions. Leia was more than happy to send him on a higher-brow mission, smugly handing him a folder directing him to the Waystation where the richest of the criminal underbelly spent their time gambling, smoking spice and enjoying exotic entertainment. In other words, it was worse than that time he dropped intel in a sewage pit and had to wade in to find it.

Worse still the General had deemed that his starfighter wouldn’t ‘give the right impression’ and forced him onto an old pleasure cruiser with little more power than a speeder bike and assigned BB-8 to another pilot during his absence. The woman is good at her job but Force she had spiteful streak.

The cruiser had lumbered through hyperspace for days until Poe actually caught a glimpse of the cantina suspended in orbit around some backwater moon. The Waystation was famous for its location – or lack thereof – it was an old republic medical centre that had been retrofitted by some intrepid smuggler who moved the station each galactic month and only sent the co-ordinates to the most exclusive individuals. The place was full of rich assholes, and while the assholes bit didn’t appeal to the resistance, the rich did. All he had to do was get in, maybe flirt a little, and secure some extra cash for much needed medical supplies, ship parts and weaponry.

The ship shuddered as Poe shut off the autopilot, guiding it into the landing bay with practised ease and quickly finding a space to set down. He wasn’t technically invited, or invited at all really, but their source had told them that knowing where to find this blasted place should be good enough as long as he doesn’t cause a stir. Still, a heavy weight sat in his chest. It always did before these types of things. But as the ramp lowered with a mechanical groan Poe felt his back straighten and posture loosen, a mask of full of roguish ease settled upon him as he stepped onto the Waystation.

*****************

He had been trying to mingle at the bar for almost an hour. For some reason he supposed that someone would approach him, in other establishments both men and women seemed to have an interest but here? Nothing. _Buncha rich snobs can probably smell the middle class on me. _The only one who seemed to take any notice of him was the brightly coloured bartender who would flit by occasionally with her long teal lekku trailing behind her and her smile earning her more in tips than he probably earned in a month. He pretended not to notice but every so often her gaze would linger a moment too long as he sipped his whiskey before her chin snapped in the direction of some obstinate man snapping his fingers in her direction. As she worked he noted how her everything she did put on a show, a little extra in a customers drink, a bend at just the right moment, a sway in her hips or a bite of her lip. The customers ate it up and threw credits into her tip jar with reckless abandonment. He couldn’t blame her she was good at what she did, better than he was currently. If he wanted to go back to General Organa with more than a hangover maybe he had to change tact, and maybe she could help.

With a grin, he leant forward onto his elbows, “Hey there love, any chance I could get a top-up?”

“Sorry _love_, I pour drinks for people who can afford it,” she replied with a lilt in her voice glancing pointedly at his slightly ill-fitting outfit, “besides it’s obviously not a drink you want.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Everyone here knows everyone, and its clear no one knows you. If they had you wouldn’t even have to ask me to fill your drink, someone already would have shouted you another one. Also, your outfit is from like 2 cycles ago.”

“That doesn’t mean I don’t want a drink.”

She smiled wryly and reached for a bottle of an expensive Corellian Whisky and filled his cup, “Tell me what you want before I get security to chuck you in an airlock.”

Poe leaned back and whistled lowly, taking a sip of his new drink, “Okay, okay, you got me, what’s your name? I’m Poe.”

“You’re avoiding the subject.”

Poe took a second to appraise the twi’lek woman. She seemed like the right kind of sort, and this place wasn’t likely to be First Order friendly given the crimes being committed left right and centre. “Can I trust you?”

“If you have to ask that you probably shouldn’t, but go ahead.”

He ran his hand through his hair, if he wanted to get this over and done with he’d have to, “I need to know, which one of these pricks is most likely to open their pockets to the resistance.”

The general would have slapped him upside the head. _Yes, go ahead Poe, spill the beans to the first pretty bartender to ask. I’m positive that will go well you absolute dipshit_. No use crying over spilt milk though. Her mouth opened for a moment before she chuckled lightly, “If you wanted kindly donations you’ve come to the wrong place, these people don’t give anything for nothing,” her tongue flicked over her lips, “But…”

“But?”

“But the customers aren’t the only people here with credits. Just give me a moment.” With that she slunk away from the bar, giving a pointed look to one of the other waiters who soon came to take up her post.

*****************

Xó strode out of the bar, sliding out of the way of customers and grabbing a glass of champagne off one of the waiter's plates. She probably shouldn’t be helping this guy out but it was an excuse as any to get away from the bar for a while, besides Alaya would want to know that the Resistance was sniffing around. The elevator slid open quietly for such an old model, and Xó slipped in and swiped her thumb on a small reader. A small green light blinked and the elevator began to move, gaining momentum before it came to a stop at the command hub. A normal cantina wouldn’t need to bother with such an elaborate setup, but they were more than that, they were a fully mobile, self-contained, spacecraft. These places didn’t run themselves though they didn’t advertise that to the people below, they didn’t care to see the ugly underbelly of these types of places.

When Alaya and her and first found this old station it was a miracle they were able to get it to work again. The republic had left it to waste in space, not even orbiting any planet just lost to the cosmos, that was until they jury-rigged their ship to push it into the orbit of a nearby moon. It took time and effort, something the pair split; Xó would be in charge of the customer experience, while Alaya would maintain the station, providing everything from security to a solid budget. Xó wasn’t about to get into talks with some Resistance pretty boy without consulting her partner.

With a chirp the doors of the elevator opened and Xó stepped into the command room. People were sitting at monitors each a hive of activity and Alaya was lounging on a chair in the centre of the room silently observing the holo projected in front of her. Xó walked up beside her and flicked the top of her chevroned montral, “Oi lazy.”

Alaya spun the chair to face Xó languidly, “Yes, darling? What do you require of me?”

“Can’t I just pop in from time to time? I swear you don’t even love me anymore!”

Alaya snorted, “I saw you coming up on the cameras idiot, left that little human behind, it’s a shame he looked like a delight.”

“More like a headache, he’s resistance.” Alaya looked up quizzically as her black striped lekku twitched in surprise.

“What does the Resistance want from us?”

“More our clients, looking for some donors. I told him he’d be more likely to find water on Tatooine.”

The markings on Alaya’s skin pulled into a frown, they had enough problems without the Resistance sniffing around and scaring off the big fish. “Was he bothering anybody too much? How’d he even get an invite?”

Xó just shrugged, “He was fine, a bit desperate but behaving alright.” She ran her hand up the side of her lekku, “But that’s not why I’m here, they won't even give him the time of day but…”

“But?”

“But maybe we can help. The First Order is breathing down our necks, maybe helping them out is a win-win type of situation.”

It was silent for a second, as Alaya pulled herself up from her seat and stretched out her long umber limbs, with a smile she slapped her hand on her friend's shoulder, “Well let's go see what we can do for the Resistance, eh?”

*****************

The Force and her may not have been best buds as of late, but that didn’t mean she didn’t feel how it had been rippling since she woke up. It had been irritating her all day like a dog that just didn’t know how to quit, and to make things worse the damn thing was too vague to really do anything about.

When Xó came to fetch her, her thoughts drifted to the box stashed in her closet, nuzzled between piles of shirts waiting patiently for her. They could be useful if things went downhill but rumour has it wearing those was the right way to get noticed by the wrong people. She flexed her fingers and instinctively reached to where they should have been clipped to her belt, but they were already stepping into the bar.

The music echoed in her montrals and a haze encircled the dancers, curling away from them as their hips swung around the pole. The man sat at the bar but unlike before he wasn’t alone. One of the newer girls was giggling at something he said and had slid her hand onto his thigh. She couldn’t see it but she could practically hear Xó rolling her eyes, “I leave the girls alone for 20 minutes and they’re already trying to get a piece of him.” Her voice was light but annoyance crept into her tone. It wasn’t jealousy, far from it, Xó took her job seriously and girls who didn’t generally last long around here. “Hali, back to work.”

The man lifted his head with his curly hair bouncing around his face as he searched for the source of the voice. His dark brown eyes swept through the crowd and came to rest on her, and Alaya found herself sucking in a deep breath as their gazes met. Where the Force had been a cacophony earlier suddenly it found its harmony and swelled happily, he flashed her a grin and time crept to a standstill before everything snapped back into sharp focus as he shifted his eyes to Xó. Alaya shook her head, _the Force had been in a tiff all day because of him? _

The waitress had scrambled away leaving him alone again at the bar as they approached him. As Alaya sized him up, Xó spoke, “Alaya, this is Poe. Poe, Alaya, if you’re going to milk anyone for cash today its going to be her.”

One of his thick eyebrows raised in her direction before he extended a hand to her, “Nice to meet ya, I suppose you know why I’m here”

She took his hand and shook firmly ignoring the tingling that ran up her arm. Pulling a chair out she waved to a waiter and replied, “Xó has told me a thing or two, but I’d like to hear it from you if you don’t mind.”

“Should we be doing this here? I mean isn’t there somewhere more private?”

Alaya’s brow raised, “Would you like to be somewhere more private with me, Poe?” She watched as a slight flush crept up his neck and took a sip of the drink that was just set down in front of her.

“I don’t… look, I’m just here on Resistance business.”

“Donations aren’t good business.” His face contorted, why they’d chosen him for the job alluded her. He seemed to broadcast every sliver of emotion as if he were on one of those over-exaggerated holo-dramas.

He sent a pointed look at Xó who only shrugged lightly, “Hey I didn’t promise anything.”

Alaya rested her chin in the palm of her hand, “If you want to get somewhere with this you need to negotiate with us. I’m not interested in a deal that only benefits you, I think we can do much better than that. If I’m going to put us in the First Order’s firing line, I’d like to get something out of it.”

“I’m in the First Order’s firing line everyday, you don’t see me complaining. ‘Cause I can’t just stand by while kids get kidnapped and people are slaughtered so they can have a new factory. Obviously, you don’t feel the same way or you’d be taking this a bit more seriously.”

The ends of her lekku curled in anger, “Kriff, do you want to get down off your high horse for just a moment? You lot are so karking deluded. There’s more going on in the universe than your little galactic tiff.”

“Little? If that’s how you want to justify standing by and doing nothing—”

Xó clicked her tongue, “You two are acting like younglings.” Turning to her both Alaya and Poe started to talk before being cut off by her pressing a blue finger to each of their lips. “If you’re done measuring dicks, we could all get something out of this.”

She was right, she was most of the time, but Alaya didn’t take kindly to being led around by the Force. Having to put up with the damn thing whispering in her ear was one thing but actually doing what it wanted was not on the cards. Alaya pulled back from the conversation and scoffed, but Xó gave her an imploring look. Xó could be very persistent and she didn’t really fancy being on the wrong end of a lecture tonight, nor for the next for weeks. “Okay,” Alaya glanced over at Poe, “If he can calm down on the poster boy routine I might be able to hear him out.”

He rolled his eyes, “Sure princess, will you quit the contrarian act?”

Xó clapped their backs, “Great to see you two getting along! Now let’s get down to business shall we?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mayhaps I was inspired by clone wars, or maybe I just felt guilty for abandoning this little project, so here's another chapter. I hope you enjoy my dumbass OC hanging out

Xó slid a tray of drinks onto the table where Alaya was busy arguing with the pilot who’d turned up on their doorstep. Arguing was actually a bit of a loose term if she was honest, it was more like they were flirting with aggression, but they would never admit that. She would tell them to reign it in but honestly they were making more progress with this than with straight out quarrelling. Besides, it was kind of cute.

“How about we just give you all free booze while we’re at it?”

“Is that an option?”

Alaya sneered, “Obviously not.”

“Xó talk some sense into her, waiving the docking fees for Resistance ships-”

“Is not an option!” Alaya retorted, “Our fees are only just high enough to cover maintenance and fuel as it is.”

Xó patted her partner consolingly, “Now, now, we can compromise. Perhaps if your ships bring supplies on their trips it will be worth our time to let them dock for free.”

Alaya paused and then nodded, “We pay smuggling crews a fortune, if we could tap into your pre-existing network fuel costs could be mitigated.”

“Besides guaranteed business is never a bad idea.” Xó suggested.

“Pilots tend to be big drinkers,” Poe suggested helpfully gesturing to the glasses he had already drained earlier.

“Yeah we can tell Hotshot.”

“Like you can talk Pumpkin. You’ve downed three of those cocktails in an hour.”

Alaya looked at him incredulously, “Pumpkin? What’s that?”

“You know, the vegetable!” Poe shook his head letting strands of his hair fly loose, “That’s beside the point though, it’s a good deal and you know it.”

Xó watched as Alaya considered it, but they’d been friends long enough that she already knew it was a yes, whether or not Alaya had come to that conclusion yet herself. “How about we come back to it, if my girls are going to be helping recruit new fighters they deserve something for their time.”

With a snort Alaya retorted, “Didn’t you hear Xó they pay the Resistance in goodwill nowadays.”

“Hey that’s not true! We get a stipend each month.”

“How about you use that to get some better clothes,” Alaya gestured to the garish outfit he had obviously scrounged together and Xó winced. She had to agree.

“Yeah, sorry Poe. If you want I can find you something better in Aly’s room, she has enough people leaving clothes there.”

Alaya growled and playfully slugged Xó’s shoulder, “Like you can talk, you’ve basically got a revolving door of men down here.”

Xó shrugged, “At least I share.”

The girls laughed as Poe downed another pint, “I don’t even want to know what that means.”

******************

When they realised they were going to need more time and space than the bar could offer, Alaya had upheaved the operation to her private quarters, a decision that was probably fuelled by the 6th cocktail she finished. Poe didn’t know what to expect but the room had been relatively tidy, with a large plush bed and a wooden closet taking up one side of the room and a holo-table on the other. As he’d walked in he noticed a picture by her bed with her and a much older Togrutan woman, smiling brightly at the camera.

By then they were all a little drunk from their time at the bar, maybe not the most professional of ways to negotiate but they needed a way to grease the wheels, especially after their awkward start. Alaya was giggling at Xó who had tried to sit on the bed but instead slid down onto the floor, while he’d stumbled over one of her limbs that had been flung into his path. Surprisingly he found himself grinning along with them, when Alaya’s razor tongue wasn’t aimed at him she could actually be quite fun. He plopped himself down into the chair next to her and she swung her long legs up onto his lap with a wicked grin. “You look like my droid.”

Alaya cocked her head, “That’s a bit of a strange thing to say.”

“Sorry,” he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck, “It’s not a bad thing. He’s almost the exact same shade of orange.”

“Hmph, if I wasn’t tipsy right now I’d probably be offended.”

“Guess it’s a good thing I got you drunk then.”

“Excuse you I said tipsy not drunk. And I got myself drunk. Or maybe Xó did-” from the floor Xó hiccoughed and groggily lifted her bottle in recognition- “but regardless of that, don’t forget that we also got you drunk.”

Poe opened his mouth to protest but after a moment he shut it with a hearty laugh. He supposed she was right, the room was slightly fuzzy at the edges and oddly warm for a hunk of metal floating in space. “You might be right. But that was only because you two were so obstinate in your negotiations.”

Pulling herself up from the floor using the bed as support Xó spoke with a slur in her pronounced Twi’lek accent, “I think I’ve been quite reasonable. Providing the resistance with a cantina where they can freely trade and stop over is hard to do nowadays. AND on top of that we’re going to be diverting a percentage of profits to you!”

“Okay, Okay but you haven’t deemed me worthy of knowing that percentage which means it’s probably too small for us to ‘provide protection’ as you so elegantly put it.”

Alaya pouted comically and stroked the end of her lekku idly, “What? That’s what they say in the holodramas. Seriously though, the Resistance can’t possibly expect us to run this place completely First Order-free without some back up.”

“Maz does it just fine.”

“Do not bring up Kanata to me! She’s so smug, oh my cantina’s on a planet, I’ve got a cool lake—”

“That’s a bit of a sore spot Dameron”

“You think, Xó?” They looked over to Alaya who was still ranting to herself angrily. “But seriously, if Maz can do it surely you guys can too.”

“I don’t think you quite understand the unique situation you’ve proposed to us, I may not know all that much about Alaya’s side of things but I know this is going to have huge consequences. Maz isn’t Resistance exclusive, the First Order and their affiliates are free to use her castle as a playground as long as they pay. Cutting them off doesn’t just reduce the customer base, it pisses people off. We’d essentially be operating as a Resistance outpost and you guys aren’t popular.” Xó took a deep swig from her bottle, “You know or something like that.”

“You know for a woman eight drinks deep that was surprisingly coherent.”

“Nine, actually.”

Poe’s hand found itself running through his hair, “I’d have to talk to Leia about it.”

“Naturally, but I reckon this could actually turn out well. You might not believe it but we actually give a shit about this galaxy, and the Resistance seems like its best bet at the moment.” Her face was sombre, a far cry from the charismatic mask she had on in the bar.

His throat was dry as he croaked out a hoarse, “Yeah…” before clearing his throat and speaking stronger, “Yeah. I’ll do what I can.” A loud snore interrupted their conversation and they both turned to see Alaya curled in a ball on her white sheets, apparently swapping her ranting for the comfort of her bed.

Xó let out a chiming laugh, “We’d better leave her to it she seems busy.”

“What about the negotiations?”

“If I know her she’ll have them drafted up for you to take tomorrow morning. She works in mysterious ways.” With that she pulled him from the room and he threw one glance back at the woman passed out drunk in her bed. He thought she would have looked softer asleep, but her face hadn’t so much as relaxed as it fell into a calm resolve. Huh, fitting. As Xó led him to ‘our state of the art rooms’ (complete with actual showers apparently) that was the image stuck in his head. 

The door slid open, and sure it wasn’t the promised state of the art, but it was sure as hell better than the Resistance bases he’d been on recently. And he’d take an actual shower over a sonic any day. He turned to thank Xó but she’d already meandered away seeming suspiciously sober. Shoulda known a bartender could handle her drink.

Pulling off his shirt, and noticing for the first time tonight that his jacket was missing and probably had been for a long time, he slid into the bed. It took only moments for his eyes to drift shut and sleep to pull over his mind.

******************************

Alaya hammered on the door for what seemed like the thousandth time. From another room muffled yelling directed at her rang out and she rolled her eyes, at least this is waking someone up. She could keep at this or… she raised her hand to the lock of the door and focused. This would be easier if she were in practice but it’s like riding a speeder you never really forget. She could feel each of the pins responding to her probing, slowly moving into place before a small click released the lock. With a final wave of her hand, the door slid open in front of Alaya and she stepped into the room.

The first thing she noticed was the smell, it wasn’t bad – not by a long shot – but it was distinctly… Poe. An odd mix of vanilla and sandalwood paired with a signature musk tickled her nostrils, Togruta were predators and her sensitive nose wasn’t appreciating the disturbance. All at once her face contorted and her eyes squeezed shut as a sneeze violently exploded from her. On the bed a topless Poe shot awake and scrambled for his blaster, blindly aiming it at the door.

“So now you wake up!” Alaya huffed, “Stop pointing that at me I’m not here to kill you.”

“Why are you in my room?!”

“It’s not my fault you didn’t answer your door!”

“Most people wouldn’t break in if someone didn’t open up for them! I could have been-”

“What? With a lady caller?”

“Maybe!”

Alaya crossed her arms and settled her weight on her back foot, “Well you weren’t. So if you’re done complaining, I drew up some documents.”

Poe’s arm lowered and his eyebrows quirked up his forehead, “I kinda thought Xó was joking about that.” He rose up revealing more of his tanned chest, with defined muscles rippling subtly under his skin. “Do ya mind? I’ve got to get dressed.”

Her shoulders rose, “I was kind of enjoying the view, but up to you.” Poe smirked up at her as he fished his shirt off the floor and she turned around smoothly. There was some scuffling sounds behind her as he changed, “Can I turn around yet?”

“Nope.”

“I can tell you aren’t changing anymore, I have excellent hearing.”

“Sorry just enjoying the view.”

Alaya whipped around and narrowed her eyes at a fully dressed Poe grinning at her ass. “Ha ha very funny. How about you focus your efforts on this instead,” she pulled a data chip from her back pocket and handed it to him, “Everything we talked about is on here, alongside some other alternatives for you to look over if it doesn’t work out. I trust you’ll get this to the Resistance safe and sound?”

“Obviously, best pilot in the galaxy here.”

Alaya ignored him and kept talking, “We don’t have the level of security here to talk with you guys by comms, so if we need to talk you’ll need to come in person.”

“That might be a problem going forward we don’t have the resources to spare for in-person meet-ups every time we want to chat.’

“I’ll look into it, get something set up. My mum might have some old tech lying around I can scavenge.”

Poe cocked his head, “Your mum? What is she a mechanic or something?”

Alaya laughed and shook her head, “Or something, she used to work for the rebellion. I don’t know all that much about it to be honest, she’s not one for chatting about it.”

His face crumpled into something sombre, “My parents aren’t either, they were pilots. Lost a lot of good friends.”

“Yeah and what was it all worth, we’ve just got another galactic empire on our doorstep again.” She took a sharp breath in, looking over at him apologetically, “Sorry. It just seems that whatever anyone does everything falls to shit. You should pack up and get going, the Resistance can’t wait forever.”

They were quiet for a moment, a tension hovering in the space between them. “You really don’t want to be involved in this, do you?”

“No. But that doesn’t mean I won’t do what’s right. I owe the galaxy that much.” With that Alaya slunk out of the room.

Moving through the corridors this early was easy, they didn’t exactly have night or day on the station but Xó and her tried to keep a daily cycle so they had time to set everything up for the next day. Right now the lights were still dimmed hiding the strange look on Alaya’s face. Her mother had never expected her to follow in her footsteps and yet there was always this urge to push against her training, be something different. And yet here she was – helping the Resistance, falling into step like a good little girl.

She missed the days when it was just Xó and her against the galaxy, living the life of pirates and smugglers. When they came across this space station it was the beginning of the end, as much as she enjoyed the challenge of running this place nothing could ever match the thrill of traipsing through open space. The worst part was that she was good at this, ridiculously so. Better than she ever was at spontaneously jetting across the galaxy and picking fights with strangers, having purpose was almost part of her DNA. The logical next step was the Resistance, Xó had been bugging her about it for months now. And now it was happening. Her mother would be absolutely delighted.

The door to her room had slid open before she even realised she’d left the lower levels. The force drew her to her cupboard, coaxing her to pull the dusty box from the behind piles of clothes. The sabres inside weren’t her mothers but they might have well been, twin blades that glowed a brilliant white as she ignited them. She’d neglected them for years, opting for blasters or vibroswords, but as she moved through her forms it was like riding a speeder bike. Hesitation turned to confidence, reluctance to fluidity and strength. It wasn’t a question of whether she could do it, she didn’t doubt that.

For years she’d been planning this, whether consciously or not she didn’t know, all the contingencies and contacts she made fit perfectly for what was about to happen. All she had to do was put it into motion.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poe and Alaya reunite with some irritating maternal figures

The junker he’d arrived in was still waiting for him safe and sound much to his chagrin. Maybe if it had been scratched up he could have sweet-talked Xó into organising a different transport, he didn’t have time to try it though. Poe never intended to stay overnight and Leia would be expecting him…. 3 hours ago. He sighed as he hit the ramp controls and watched it stutter open with a sad groan. As he boarded a shiver ran down his spine, he’d never found his jacket (and if Xó’s reaction to it was anything to go by it had probably mysteriously been incinerated) so he'd just have to deal with the freezing chill of space.

Moving into the cockpit Poe flopped into the squeaky pilot's chair, his hands automatically moved over the controls, bringing the ship to life more smoothly than should be possible for such a rust bucket. The flight back to the Resistance would take a few hours and he was already regretting not making use of the shower he was offered, but after his early morning interruption, he was already dressed and practically ready to go. For a moment he’d felt the urge to go after Alaya and when he didn’t, it didn’t feel right to keep hanging around her space station. So he left. Quickly.

The docking clamps released and the ship lifted, filling the hangar with a deep grumbling that escalated to a roar as it pushed through the magnetic shielding and into open space. Poe flicked a few switches above his head and hit the malfunctioning navicomputer until its screen flickered back to life, beeping loudly before propelling them into hyperspace.

* * *

“Poe. How’d you enjoy your trip?” Leia stood with Lieutenant Connix, smiling playfully at him.

He must have looked like shit, hungover, sleep-deprived and in yesterdays clothes to top it off, but strangely when he quipped back, “I had a great time actually,” he wasn’t even lying.

Leia handed Kaydel a stack of papers and waved her away softly, “Oh of course, given your insistence on going on some higher-brow missions I knew you’d love it.”

“Stop gloating General, you already made your point. If you care I actually have a proposal for you.”

Placing a hand on her hip Leia replied, “Oh so Alaya came round then?”

“Yeah- wait, you sent me to find sponsors!”

“And?”

“And why do you even know about Alaya?”

  
“Oh I knew her mother, besides when you run a criminally underfunded organisation you have to know a few criminals,” Poe could only stare dumbfounded, “Close your mouth Poe, it’s not that complicated.”

He stumbled over his words, “But why even lie about it? Did she know?”

“No, she’s entirely too stubborn to take an offer on our terms. And to be honest I thought you could enjoy a night out.”

“I hate those places!”

“What happened to having a great time?”

A righteous rage swam in his stomach, eating away at his patience, “Well your little plan worked out. Here,” He took the data chip and slid it across the table, “she put together a certifiable novel worth of information. I read it on the way over, pretty good actually. I’ve got to go find BB-8.”

He was still muttering under his breath as a familiar chirping caught his attention. BB-8 careened through the hallway scattering a group of engineers and skidding into a wall, beeping excitedly. Poe crouched down and embraced the little droid, “Oh really bud that great! No, I missed you too!” The droid let out a rapid stream of binary and rotated his chassis to show a dent where his paint was missing, “BB! What did you get yourself into? Oh did they now, well I’ll make sure I have a word with those rookies. How bout we go fix you up….” With a shrill beep, the droid was already on his way leaving Poe in his wake.

He’d really missed the little dude, it was almost enough to take his mind off Leia’s machinations. He left the New Republic because his commanders didn’t trust him, just sent him off to do his bidding with no care as to what he felt. The General had offered something different. Sure it was better than before but he could still feel his ego chafing against… some imagined slight? He shook his head and followed BB-8 with a bit more spring in his step than before.

His droid was waiting for him at one of the mechanic’s booths, sorting through a cupboard full of various paints, “Bud how are you planning on using that paint without me? Last I checked you don’t have hands.”

The droid brushed him off with a series of flippant beeps. Rolling his eyes Poe picked up the ball and moved him out of the way. The cupboard really was a mess, with unlabelled tins scattered randomly between bits of scrap and dried brushes. Letting out a puff of air Poe began to sort through it all, slowly creating a semblance of order. BB-8 chirped behind him, looking over his work sceptically, “Uh well those are there because all those cans aren’t labelled, and those ones are… taller than the rest? Look do you want to be fixed up or not?” Poe pulled a can out and popped open the lid, _there’s that perfect shade of orange. _“You know buddy I met a Tog who was the exact same colour as you.”

BB let out a dismissive tone and nudged Poe eagerly, who laughed with fond exasperation, “Let’s get started then.”

* * *

Alaya groaned, “Mum you’re squeezing too tight.”

“I’m just making up for lost time little Aya, nowadays your always off on your little adventures-”

“Mum-” Alaya started to disentangle herself from her mother's arms but the older woman pulled her back in with surprising strength – “Stop that! It’s not an adventure it’s a business!” With a huff, she pulled back holding Ahsoka at arm’s length, “I’m tired and I don’t have that much time, can we at least have a conversation before you try to lock me away here forever?”

Her mother rolled her eyes and hobbled into the kitchen muttering under her breath. “Maybe if you call ahead next time you won't be in such a rush,” She reappeared with two cups of tea pushing one into Alaya’s hands, “What’s so important that you finally decide to visit your old lady anyway?”

“The Resistance came to us for some… assistance.”

Ahsoka’s brow marking raised and she took a short sip of tea, “As I remember it you were never much interested in all of that.”

Alaya rubbed her temple wearily, “It’s just business. Kind of. It’s complicated.”

“And what do you need from me?”

“A long-range military-grade encrypted transmitter and anything else you have that might help out.”

Her relaxed posture stiffened and she sat her tea on the coffee table with a soft clink. “I might have that.” The air in the room was thick and not just from Shili’s humid atmosphere.

Alaya’s eyes narrowed, “What’s your problem?”

“That’s serious hardware you’re looking for Alaya. What was it you said you needed it for?”

“The name kind of says it all. Communication with the Resistance.”

“And what exactly is business-related that possibly needs that level of security?”

“Why does it matter?”

“Well, I don’t want you getting too involved.” Ahsoka’s tone was firm, almost harsh.

“What?” Alaya felt her montrals buzzing with irritation.

“You heard me. Don’t get too involved.”

Alaya looked at her quizzically, “Stop joking around,” her mother’s expression didn’t change, “You are joking right? You literally raised me to do what you did, whatever that actually was.”

“That was never my intention-”

A dry chuckle erupted from Alaya, “You know what’s funny? When this came up, I was nervous but I thought well at least mum will finally be happy!”

“That’s what you thought? I would… I would never wish what happened to me to happen to anyone, least of all my own daughter. Most of my life was spent at _war_, Alaya. If anything I tried to train you so you could avoid all of this.”

Alaya tried to will the teacup in her hand to stop shaking but it just wouldn’t stop, and when she started to speak her voice warbled too, “But you were so _angry _at me when I left! I could feel the disappointment rolling off you!” She took a deep breath in letting the force ground her for a moment, “You would always preach at me, be responsible, humble, honest, disciplined, courageous, trust in the force… what was I meant to take from all that? Why not just let Master Skywalker take me to the Jedi temple? You basically raised me like that anyway!”

Her mother laughed, but it was hollow and sad, “I was raised a Jedi little Aya, trust me when I say you weren’t brought up anything like that. I didn’t have a mother to teach me how to do this, practically my whole life I never thought I could have anything like you. But then you came along and I had to learn to do it all myself. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t know better. I tried to do the best with what I knew.” Ahsoka sank into the worn couch as tears brimmed in her blue-grey eyes.

“I’m sorry I was such a burden on you, Ahsoka,” the words flowed from her like poison, “but how about you do us both a favour and tell me where that transmitter is so I can leave this shithole.”

The force vibrated unhappily as Ahsoka’s sadness quickly morphed to anger, “Did you not hear a word I said?” Something coiled in Alaya’s stomach began to stir, “I’ve given too much to this universe and I’m not going to help you dive headfirst into this war! Stay out of it!”

“No!” Alaya roared and Ahsoka’s tea flew into a wall and shattered. For a second she just stood with her fists balled at her sides breathing deeply. She could feel a vague sense of guilt but righteous anger dulled its edges, “I’m doing this whether you like it or not. If I have to go somewhere else for help I will. Have fun wallowing in the middle of nowhere.” With that she spun around and stormed out of the bungalow, letting the door slam shut behind her.

As she marched to her ship small rocks began to drag towards her and the tall red grass was parted forcefully out of her way. The sky was dark with thunder roiling in the distance and fat droplets were beginning to run down her lekku. It was getting hard to tell the difference between her own hot tears and the warm summer rain. Angrily wiping her face Alaya started to pull herself up the ladder of her ship.

A chittering sound interrupted her tantrum and she slowly turned to see a group of Thimiars tearing at the wiring of the cockpit with small sharp teeth. Alaya yelped and tumbled backwards off the ladder landing squarely in the centre of a muddy puddle. With a shout of frustration, she lashed out with the force, sending the rodents flying off her ship.

Attempting the ladder a second time was harder, given the mud she was now coated in, but she got there. With a groan she examined the damage, _great – there’s no way this will make it back to the station._

With reluctance she looked back to her mother’s hut, being battered by the now howling wind. No, she wouldn’t give in, not that easily. Huddling under one of the wings Alaya tried to wait out the storm but she felt miserable, all the rage she had let bubble up had dissipated just as quickly as it came and all she was left with was a numbness pooling in her fingertips that was quickly spreading to her chest. She let her head rest on the nearest landing strut and let her eyes drift shut, if she had to wait for sun, she could at least get some shut-eye in the meantime.

* * *

The clang of metal on metal shocked Alaya awake, she flailed into action igniting a white saber with a panicked shout. _…and there’s no one here. _She looked left and right but the red plain was empty on all sides. Another clang shook her teeth and she looked up. The wing was shaking with the force of whatever hit it. Peering over the edge Alaya was met with the sight of her elderly mother hammering panels of her ship back together.

“Trying to get rid of me?”

“You may be a bit of a brat, but I’m not about to let you be stranded here.”

“I could always walk to the spaceport.”

Ahsoka scoffed and turned back to her work. “Are you going to just stand there, or will you help an old lady out?”

Alaya shuffled on the spot, weighing up her options for a moment, before climbing the ladder to join her at work. She watched as her mother fiddled with a set of wires, twisting them together with her long umber fingers. “How do you know how to do all of this? It doesn’t seem like something the Jedi would teach you.”

Ahsoka smiled sideways at her, “I had a quite unorthodox master, but I really got practice when I was part of the rebellion.”

“Last I checked the rebellion didn’t teach all its soldiers advanced mechanics.”

“That’s assuming I was a soldier little Aya, I was more… special operations, I guess you’d call it. When the cells you manage are getting shot down by the Empire every few cycles it helps to make repairs on the fly.”

“Huh, I always just assumed you were on the front lines hacking and slashing away.” The wing sparked as wires crossed in the wrong way, making Ahsoka yelp and shake her hand in frustration. Alaya noticed the shake of her mother’s fingers as she tried to weave the wires together again, “Maybe you can teach me?”

“Ready to learn from your elders, are we? Give it a go,” Ahsoka moved to the side trying to subtly massage her swollen knuckles Alaya slipped into her and examined the half-complete maintenance job. “Now what you’re going to do is twist those – not too tight – yes that’s it, and connect it to that port.”

They worked together quietly, but it was a comfortable silence punctuated only by Ahsoka’s soft instructions. Slowly but surely it came together, Alaya was by no means mechanically gifted but her mum was a good teacher. In a few hours, the wiring was safely back behind the ships grey plating and the ship’s engines came to life smoothly.

“Mum, look-”

“No. Don’t worry about it. Just get on your way.”

“…Okay.”

Ahsoka dropped down from the wing, extending her arms and slowing her fall with a burst of telekinetic energy. Alaya watched her leave as the cockpit slid shut, cutting them off again. She let out a soft sigh, sure, the visit was kind of disastrous but heading back into space was never fun. And on top of that, she didn’t even get what she came for. _Maybe I can source something from Kanjiklub. _That could wait until later, for now, all she wanted to do was get back home.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alaya sorts out that pesky communicator issue

The sixth shot was probably a bad idea. But to be fair, the bartender had been very convincing when he’d winked at her like that. Maybe heading to his room had been a bad idea as well, but Alaya was still pinning that on her first bad idea. The handcuffs however… she was willing to put that in the category of ‘new bad idea’.

When he left her high, dry and literally tied up he hadn’t even bothered to leave the light on for her, but as her eyes adjusted she could see more of the room around her. From her position cuffed to the bed it looked… normal. Cookie-cutter cantina stuff, not messy enough to be where he lived, probably hired for tonight. Her shirt was in two pieces on the floor, which she had to admit was hot in the moment but not very convenient now, given the chilly draft coming from the air circulator.

She wriggled against the restraints clamping her to the bed, trying to slip her hands out somehow but all she got in return was the sharp sting of plasteel cutting into her wrist. Really she should have expected something like this, even without a resistance affiliation she’d accumulated a bounty or two in her lifetime, but this would never happen at her establishment. If anyone got kidnapped on the Waystation at least it wouldn’t be by the staff.

…Or if that did happen for some reason, they wouldn’t be this sloppy about it. When the bartender (maybe his name was Derk? She doubted whatever he told her was real anyway.) left he’d mockingly left the keys to the cuffs on the nightstand just out of reach. _At least my feet are free_, she wiggled her toes at herself. Alaya tried to twist her leg over to the nightstand, _Nope, nope, ow that hurt_. With a groan, she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to clear the fog from her head, if she could just focus maybe she could get the Force to help her out a touch. As she reached out the Force quivered under her less than skilled attempt, it wasn’t ideal but she could make it work. The keys vibrated slightly as she tried to encourage them to move before stuttering into the air like a broken starship. She was feeling a slight sense of accomplishment as they drifted towards her, which ironically broke the incredibly small amount of focus she was able to muster. The keys careened to the ground slipping out of sight into a crevice between the nightstand and the bed. She was really regretting the sixth shot now.

_It’s time for Plan B I guess_. She shifted her attention to the too-tight cuffs and tried to get a feel for the lock, it seemed simple enough. Unluckily for her simple enough right now was going to be more than complicated. But no one was about to come and just let her out so she got started, the pins in the lock twitching unhappily as she manipulated them.

Her head ached and it took entirely too long until one of the handcuffs fell loose with a distinct click, “Oh thank the Maker, I was not ready to get sold,” She groaned as she rolled her wrist slowly, massaging at the black bruises starting to show against the usual umber of her skin. One wrist was still shut up tight though, much to Alaya’s disdain. With a grunt she reached down blindly for the keys, tugging against the bed post with stubborn determination. Her fingers brushed the top of the keys and through gritted teeth she forced out, “Just a bit further…”

With one last stretch she seized the keyring between her fingernails and drew it out triumphantly, “Yes! Take that Derk!”

“I’m offended darling.” The drawling voice startled her and much to her dismay, the keys clattered to the floor again, she turned and growled at the disturbance - while the bartender stood in the doorway smugly eyeing her half-naked attempts to escape, “My name is Derek but in your state, I don’t blame you for forgetting.”

“Kriffing hell, you again.” Alaya glared at him with as much menace as she could muster while in such an awkward position. “How about you make yourself useful and let me out?”

“And why would you do that? I’ve got a bounty hunter on his way here about to pay me a fortune for you.” He approached her with a smooth gait that reminded her of a swamp slug.

“Come any closer and you’ll regret it.” Her threat sounded weak even to her, and he didn’t even dignify it with hesitation. He reached out to grab her wrist, but even when still slightly tipsy her reflexes were faster than his and she swiped at his face in retaliation. He blocked it, but only barely, he growled and tried to grab her again this time going for her neck. Her montrals blocked his attempts to wrap his meaty fist around her but the force of his hand up against her throat still left her breathless for a moment.

She sucked in a deep breath which was immediately forced back out as he used his grip on her neck to slam her into the headboard of the bed. Her back lekku complained as it was squashed against the metal at an odd angle, and Alaya lamented the bruising that would surely hang around for the next few days. She swung her free hand back up to hit him again but a strong attack was impossible at this angle, and he shrugged it off and smashed her against the headboard again. 

She had more in her bag of tricks though, and his first mistake was attacking a carnivore. While the rumours about Togruta being venomous weren’t true, that didn’t mean their teeth didn’t pack a punch. Alaya twisted her head down and bit deep into his forearm, her fangs sliding in easily causing him to yelp and pull away tearing his flesh in the process. “You crazy bitch! You bit me!”

“You kidnapped and tried to sell me! I think it's justified!”

He lunged at her again but this time she was ready; dodging as far out of the way as she could while attached to a bed. He sprawled onto the sheets and Alaya wrangled his head between her thighs - squeezing as tight as she could, “When you wake up tell Qin-Fee this is no way to run a bar.” For a moment he thrashed and clawed at her legs but she held fast until he stilled underneath her. Breathing heavily, she disentangled herself and kicked him off the bed with a heavy thud. She grumbled under her breath, “You weren’t hot enough for this entire mess.” After a small struggle, she snatched up the keys and finally got her other hand free.

Alaya reached down and pulled the shirt off her captor, sniffing it once before shrugging it on. _At least he had good taste in cologne. _She checked the pockets of his pants and found a few credits, shoving them into her bra for safekeeping, she was just lucky she’d bought the transmitter before heading out drinking because she had no idea where her purse was. Now if she could just get to her ship she’d be set to leave this second rate cantina.

As she left the room she heard someone jeering at her, “Looks like you had a good time in there honey.”

She looked down at her less than polished appearance and flicked the alien a smile, “You should see the other guy.”

* * *

The ships interface lit up with a happy chirp that was not in line with how she was feeling. Even if the booze from earlier was starting to wear off, now all she was left with was all the aches associated with being chained to a bed and a dry mouth. Alaya rubbed her wrists idly while the navi-computer calculated the jumps she needed to do. This is why she kept to the Waystation, she was able to keep things running smoothly there in its own little ecosystem separate from the galactic scale conflict that always seemed to be happening. On the other hand, the little haven she’d built was now going to be a resistance hot spot, but that was her own fault. Well partly, she also blamed that stupid pilot and Xó for plying her with alcohol. Even if she didn’t want people at each other’s throats, the greater good of the galaxy was never her schtick.

The navi-computer flashed with a green affirmation and Alaya took that as her cue to start up the engines. The port below drifted out of sight and the ship wobbled slightly as it hit the edge of the atmosphere, reigniting a distinct urge to throw up. She listened to the hum of the engines as they prepared for the jump, surveying the stars spanning in front of her. A flash caught her eye and she squinted at a vague shape approaching her position, her eyes widened.

Alaya flicked a few switches and muttered to herself, “Come on, come on. Let’s go already,” the blob in the distance morphed into a ship. And the ship started firing. “Sithspit.” She could divert power to the shields but she couldn’t jump to hyperspace without enough for the engines. At the last moment she swerved to the side, the first barrage of lasers missing by a hair. Who she could assume was the bounty hunter was now heading straight for her, ready to fire again._ Okay, two can play this game. _She pushed on the throttle and kept the ship hurtling towards her opponent.

Another round of bolts careened towards her, and with deft precision she threw the ship into a barrel roll evading all but two of the bolts. Alaya grinned wolfishly, she wasn't exactly sure that was going to work but it gave her a surge of confidence to continue on her course. The ships drew closer and closer, until the last moment when the bounty hunter dipped their ship preventing both of them from immolating. A scraping sound made her grimace briefly as the top of their ship raked against the bottom of hers.

She sharply turned the ship, wheeling back round to where she had just come from. The ship hummed beneath her, eager to make its jump despite the damage it had endured. And so was she. The bounty hunter swung around but Alaya was already slamming her hand down on the console and launching herself into space.

* * *

Warning systems beeped around her, at least 4 consoles demanded her attention and she was starting to think that the manoeuvres she undertook may have effected the hyperspace systems. What should have been a quick 30-minute trip was now considerably more consequential. If she didn’t drop out at the right moment… well, that was something for future Alaya to worry about.

She watched the coordinates shift rapidly, eyes flitting over readouts and data without any real knowledge of what they meant. She was no pilot, she knew the basics and the Force helped out with some of the more complex stuff. She, however, had never tested anything like this while hurtling across the galaxy at light speed.

Sirens started to holler through the cockpit, _I guess this is my stop. _Strapping herself to the pilot’s chair, Alaya braced herself before pulling back on the throttle sharply. The streaks of light surrounding the ship condensed into singular pricks of starlight, and seemingly out of nowhere the Waystation warped into existence. The throttle tried to thrash in her grip, and the ship was still travelling at absurd speeds. The Waystation was entirely too close and she knew it.

“Okay, okay, we can slow down. Let me just…” Alaya pushed a glowing blue button and a sickly sound came from the back of the ship, “…Shit.”

She tried to jerk the controls to the side but they were seized in place. Her face was set in a mask of horror as she quickly approached the station. There was a hangar she might be able to make it to if she was able to steer, but that was a bust. She let out a frustrated yell, her frustration shaking the ship. A thought hit her, and it wasn’t like she had any other options right now.

Taking in a deep breath she reached out with both arms trying to adjust the currents of the force around the ship, _just a bit to the right, easy does it. _It was exhausting, like exercising a muscle she hadn’t properly used in years but she found herself pulling from an eager ally, a well of power that seemed to deepen as her panic grew.

The nose of her transport tilted, and a moment later she was barrelling into the hangar. The metal hull crumpled as it collided with a parked ship, and inertia slammed Alaya’s head into the console sending her instantly into blackness. She lay there unmoving, blood trickling from her nose as the wrecked skeleton of her ship skidded to a halt.

* * *

Xó sat uneasily in what was normally her partner's chair. She had never been entirely comfortable in the command centre, but since Alaya had gone ahead and launched herself into the Waystation (leaving a trail of destruction and plenty of angry customers in her wake) it was something she had to take on. They didn’t have a medical bay, which was ironic given the prior purpose of this hunk of metal, but luckily a dilapidated med droid had been revived by one of the engineers. Time had warped its memory banks and personality cortex, but it seemed to know what it was doing. The quirky little robot had come to the conclusion that Alaya could be stabilised but needed a bacta tank to rejoin the waking world.

Which Xó supposed was why she had contracted a team to hook up the communicator they’d found in the wreckage and was now tuning it to the frequency the Resistance had left with her.

Frustratingly the signal kept drifting in and out of existence, blocked by an asteroid field that swung around the left side of the station. However, the benefit of hosting a cantina in a space station meant it was mobile. Xó nibbled on her lip as she oversaw the small team that running checks on thrusters and stabilisers. It wasn’t a huge operation, it wouldn’t even affect the coordinates they handed out, but it was still out of her league. A mechanic threw her a thumbs up and she slowly pushed a lever forward, feeling the station push against her in turn. Everything went smoothly to her surprise, and they came to a stop with little fanfare.

She tested the signal again and she felt a warm glow of pride as the scanners showed a strong connection. Although the person who picked up threw her for a loop.

A bleary-eyed, familiar face was projected before her, the only difference from when she last saw him was the wash of blue and how large the holo was. She blinked twice, “Poe?”

The projected image of his face shook as he tried to clear his head, “ ‘Ello? Who is it?”

“Sorry I expected this to go through to –”

“Xó?”

She hesitated, “Uh yeah, it’s me. Hi,” She gave a little wave before continuing, “Do you always give out your private line for this kind of stuff?”

His brow furrowed slightly, “Yeah, I suppose. I guess this means Alaya managed to convince her mum to help out.” Xó’s discomfort must have read clearly on her face, “…Or not? This link is secure right?”

“Oh yeah, she made sure of that, but she had to use some… alternative sources.” She hurried to assure him, “That’s actually what I wanted to talk about—what kind of medical facilities do you guys have?”

“We have a pretty good setup,” It was as if what she had said just processed, and his eyes lit up with worry, “Did something happen? Why do you need medical?”

Her hesitation said more than he needed to know, “Okay, Xó, wait one moment, I’m just going to put this paperwork away, then we can work this out.”

Xó wrung her hands as Poe disappeared for a moment, the sound of shuffling papers and a curious beeping drifting over the speakers. When he reappeared any hint of exhaustion was wiped from his face, replaced with a persistent and concerned frown. “Can you tell me what’s happened?”

She sighed, “We don’t really know what happened. Well, we know Alaya crashed a fighter into our hangar, the mechanics say the steering was damaged. When we found her she was out cold and in pretty bad shape so we don’t really know why she did it. We have one old Kaminoan medical droid who managed to stabilise her but it said she needs a bacta tank,” Xó paused, “We don’t exactly have those kinds of facilities.”

Poe ran his hand through his hair, “I left you guys alone for a month, kriffing hell,” he gave a half smirk, “Remind me to teach her how to fly next time I’m around.”

“That might be sooner than you’d like, I’d like to organise for her to be sent to you guys.”

He nodded slowly, his voice a little hoarse, “Yeah, yeah, of course. I’ll have to speak to some higher-ups for clearance but it won’t be a problem. While I’m at it I’ll see if we can spare a tank to sent back to you two for emergencies. Will you be coming too?”

“I have to make sure things stay on track here. I’m sure you understand.”

“I’ll make the arrangements here then. Dameron, out.” He gave a little mock salute and the holo flickered out with a high pitched hiss. Xó stood and made her way to Alaya’s room where she was lying prone, and kept an eye on her from the doorway. Alaya had only been asleep for a few days but worryingly each time Xó checked on her she couldn’t help but notice the way her friend spasmed occasionally as if jerked by some invisible strings. The droid was insistent it wasn’t a medical issue but it obviously had a few wires crossed.

She had to get back to work but she took a moment to read over the report MX-409 had put together. It confirmed everything she already knew, she couldn't do anything to help. With a bitter sigh she put down the tablet and hurried off to deal with whatever oncoming disaster was sure to be brewing downstairs. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poe is angsty and he doesn't know why, and Alaya is angsty but she definitely knows why

It had become something of a Resistance wide joke that Poe was way too close to his fighter. He supposed they were right in some ways; they’d been together since his time in the New Republic military and she hadn’t let him down yet. It didn’t hurt that all the time he spent working on her had provided some fun upgrades that came in handy in a pinch. Most mechanics avoided working on Black 1, it wasn’t worth the harsh feedback they’d get back nor the possibility of some hastily attached modifier exploding in their face. That doesn’t mean any of them would miss the opportunity to watch Poe work his magic; he moved in synchrony with BB-8 to fix problems that most people wouldn’t even notice. Plus, no one really objected to how he looked when he shrugged off the top half of his flight suit and tied it around his waist, leaving only a thin white tank top to cover the muscle rippling under his torso.

All of this is why people were confused as to why Poe was angrily hammering at his ship, sending sparks scattering across the floor and discordant clanging echoing through the hangar. BB-8 rocked back and forth underneath the wing of the ship chirping to itself in worried binary, watching its owner with apprehension. Rumour around the base was that Poe had burst into high command early that morning and had been acting stormy ever since.

He was just lucky most of his squadron were out scouting or they’d be pestering him over his sour mood. His impromptu meeting with high command went well, Doctor Kalonia had happily agreed to treat Alaya, and Connix assured him that she would handle the logistics. Poe just couldn’t shake the feeling that if not for him she wouldn’t need any bacta tank in the first place. Xó hadn’t explicitly said it but whatever alternative sources they’d had to resort to probably had a hand in Alaya’s crash, and if he was honest with himself he knew that this was just going to be the tip of the iceberg. People in this line of work got hurt.

Poe slammed the hammer into the metal panel once more and used the back of his hand to wipe a film of sweat off his forehead. He set the hammer down and let out a puff of air, from below him BB bleeped in questioning.

“Yeah buddy, I think I’m done,” He swung his legs over the side of the wing and dropped down to the ground, “What do you say we go get lunch?”

“Captain Dameron? Captain Dameron!” He lifted his head to see an officer heading his way, looking out of place in the chaos of the hanger.

“Whatever happened, tell the General it’s not my fault?”

The man looked confused, “Uh no, the General doesn’t want anything. Lieutenant Connix wanted me to tell you that your guest would be arriving on the landing pad.”

Poe furrowed his brows, although they seemed almost permanently like that lately, “That soon?”

“I wasn’t really given details but the flight manifest said it would be arriving at 5, which is only a few minutes off.”

Poe looked accusingly at BB-8, “You let me waste a whole day? I had paperwork to do!” The droid ducked its head and let out a sad tone, but Poe just rolled his eyes.

“When you’re ready the shuttle should be landing on platform 3, Sir.”

“Alright, I’ll head on over. BB-8 stop pretending to be guilty we’ve got to go.”

Instantly BB-8 perked up and rolled away while chirping happily, leaving Poe to catch up. He gave an apologetic smile to the officer and jogged off after his droid who was already weaving his way through the corridors, probably knocking over a few people along the way.

BB skidded to a stop on the edge of the landing platform before turning to wait for Poe to catch up to him. What looked like an Allanar N3 had settled on the pad, its ramp already lowering to reveal a Zabrak mercenary. The merc ambled down the ramp, looking around curiously, “This don’t look like any hospital I’ve ever seen.”

Poe rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, “Yeah, it was, uh… an old rebellion base! We’re in the process of renovating.”

The Zabrak shrugged and hocked a ball of phlegm onto the ground, “No skin off my back,” he looked down at BB-8 who was skirting around his feet, “You selling this unit? Could fetch you a quick buck.”

“What? No! Look do you have the… package or not?”

“Package? I’ve got some lady on a ventilator, are you sure I landed on the right—”

“Yes! I’m positive,” Poe rushed to assure him, “She’s orange, and tall, scowls a fair amount?”

“Yeah, yeah okay. Just get her off my ship I’ve got other deliveries to make,” he waved Poe onboard stepping aside to let him through, “Oh, and if you don’t take that karking med droid with you, I’m ejecting it into the next star I fly by.”

* * *

The darkness that swirled around her was almost solid and each time she tried to stand up it clawed at her until she stumbled to the ground again. Eventually, she learnt to stop standing up.

The floor became something of an ally, sure it was damp and cold, but in the boundless void, it was something she could rely on. So Alaya curled up in a shivering ball and watched her own breath fog up in front of her with each shaky exhale. It was almost bearable for the first little while, but then the voice started.

At first it was an occasional whisper, and she could put it down to her mind playing tricks on her, but it became more insistent. The words were garbled, maybe in some language she didn’t understand, but they gripped her with terror. When the voice spoke Alaya found her hands trembling and spasms travelling along her spine, and each sentence echoed through her montrals endlessly. Her nails bit into the palms of her hand as her fists clenched involuntarily, letting small rivulets of blood trace down her arms and spill onto the floor.

It was getting harder to keep her eyes open, or even coax her lungs to suck in air. All she could think was _Cold. _She blinked slowly and when her eyes opened the dark fog seemed to have crept closer towards her. She pulled her knees closer to her chest and a whimper escaped her lips. Whatever was happening she didn’t want it, it felt foul and wrong - but she also had no control of it.

The voice seemed amused at her attempts to retreat into herself, and it cut into her with more clarity than ever, _Give in, Girl. It’s not so bad here if you let it in._

A half-formed sob tried to climb out of her but her lips refused to open for it. That voice felt so familiar, like she’d heard it once in her dreams before. But every kid had bad dreams, nightmares that sent them running to their mum's arms, this was so much more visceral. When it's just a nightmare, you can wake up. Right now she didn’t even have the energy to move let alone jolt herself awake.

Cruel laughter curled through the void, seemingly feeding off the strength that was leaving her body, _Don’t you want to fight back, Girl? Or are you too weak?_

Somewhere deep inside her, her ego growled at the attack. That wasn’t true. She’d struck out on her own, made herself the ruler of her own little kingdom. She’d cheated death countless times and brought a fair share of it on others. And she sure as hell wasn’t going to be called weak by some talking cloud.

“Shut up.”

The strength in her voice was surprising, a moment ago she couldn’t even cry. _A prideful one are we? I wonder if it's justified…_

A small part of her knew she was being baited, but the other part didn’t care. Anger pooled in her stomach and she used that to mobilise her legs. Bit by bit, she got to her feet, resisting the clamouring darkness that threatened to pull her to that dank floor again. _And what now, Girl? I’ve seen your pathetic toying with the force, you are nothing. _

“And you’re some disembodied voice playing at power,”

_You—_

“SHUT UP!” Alaya threw out her arms and a wave of energy surged from her, beating back the blackness and revealing a throne room washed in red light. The heaviness that had burdened her fled and she gulped down deep, unburdened breaths of air. She closed her eyes and slowed her breathing, “So where are you, nerf herder? Let me see who you are.”

“Maybe sometime. Girl, but not today.”

* * *

He had tried to keep up with his daily routine but something gnawed at him. Maybe it was the thought of Alaya floating in a tank of bacta alone, or Xó waiting anxiously light-years away, but he had started to grab his meals from the canteen and eat them in the med centre. Kalonia had told him that she’d need more time in the tank before she woke up but he’d shrugged it off with a smile, _Gotta keep our guest company Major. _

So each morning he’d grab breakfast and chat about everything he needed to do that day, update her on his progress as he wolfed down lunch and lamented the quality of the meat substitute as he picked at his dinner at the end of the day. He didn’t even mind that each time he visited the med droid, MX-409, would talk his ear off. Hell, he was even starting to enjoy its company. BB-8 liked it too, but he had taken to bugging Poe about getting his own pair of repulsorlifts.

It was comfortable, and after a week he’d settled into this new routine. Which is why when he arrived, he knew something was wrong. Nurses were moving around hurriedly and were nervously glancing at the room where he knew Alaya was being kept. Small objects jittered of their own accord, occasionally tumbling off shelves to dive to the floor.

Poe jogged over to one of the nurses and grasped her arm, “Hey, hey, what’s happening?”

The nurse hesitated, “I—You should talk to the Doctor.”

“Just tell me.”

“…The patient you’ve been visiting is destabilised. We don’t know why yet, but Doctor Kalonia is with her now she’ll figure it out.”

“Can I…”

“Go in? Not at the moment but you can wait over there. Oh and if you could try and calm that droid down…”

Poe looked over to where the nurse gestured, a small waiting room where MX was erratically floating in circles. He turned to thank the nurse but she had already rushed away, so he made his way to the anxious droid.

He sat his dinner down, “Hey buddy, what’s up?”

It stopped and turned to him suddenly, “Oh specimen-334, it is good to see you. They won’t let me treat my patient, there is a critical failure in her neural network that needs to be addressed. Yes, yes I should have seen it earlier but my memory banks have been damaged and no one has bothered to seek repair—”

Poe cut in, “Calm down, it’s okay, I’m sure the Doc has it handled.”

“No, no, no, no it’s all wrong.” The droid twitched and went back to looping aimlessly around the room.

Poe was just about to pull up a seat when a tremor rippled through the ground, followed by a loud thump. He peered around the corner and was met with the sight of Kalonia sprawled across the floor and the door to Alaya’s room flung half-way across the med pay. Kalonia groaned and he quickly made his way to help her up, “What happened? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, I just don’t understand why… she should be perfectly healthy!”

“You just got thrown through a door, you can stop diagnosing for a moment, Major. I’m going to see what’s wrong, okay?” She nodded and steadied herself on a wall as Poe moved into the room. His eyes widened as he saw Alaya thrashing in the fluid, moving almost in slow motion.

“What…” Her head turned towards him and he stumbled slightly as he saw her eyes wide open and frantic. He could swear when he first met her, they had been an incandescent green but now they fixed him with an eerie orange stare. She threw her hands against the glass and he snapped into action, trying to release the top of the tank. He looked at the control panel helplessly before he was pushed out of the way by the droid he’d just been trying to relax.

MX tapped the panel quickly and the tank let out a groan as the lid lifted. Alaya exploded out of the bacta and pulled out the tube travelling down her throat with a gasp. She was breathing fitfully and grasping at the side of the tank for support, and Poe took a step forward. “Alaya, are you okay?”

Her head whipped to him but she didn’t speak, so he took another step forward. “You’ve been comatose for two weeks. Xó sent you to us to get you better.”

Alaya looked around the room and shivered slightly, “Is this real?”

“Yeah, it is,” He was close enough to touch her now, so he did. Poe set his arms on her shoulders and she sucked in a breath of air, “Feel that? I’m right here. So are you.”

She eyes scanned his face and settled on the two pools of chocolate that he was looking at her imploring with. He felt her heartbeat calm and her eyes slowly shifted back to green, and before he knew it she practically collapsed forward into him. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she buried her face in his shoulder, Poe paused for a second before reaching up and stroking her lekku, “It’s okay, I’ll just go grab the Doctor,” her grip tightened and she shook her head, “Ah, I guess MX can get her then. MX?”

The droid looked like it was about to protest so he sent it a glare, and it drifted out of the room quickly. Alaya pulled back looking slightly embarrassed, “Could you help me out by any chance?” Her voice was raspy and a little reedy.

Poe chuckled, “Yeah sure, but don’t act shy now that you’ve thrown yourself at me.” She rolled her eyes but let him hoist her out of the tank, holding on to him for balance when her feet touched the floor.

Alaya looked around and furrowed her brow at the mess in the room, small items were strewn across the floor and the door was completely missing, “I thought the Resistance would be tidier.”

Poe looked down at her with surprise, _She doesn’t know it was her. _“I suppose you’re rubbing off on us, even when you’re unconscious.”

She snorted a little, and the Major appeared in the doorway, a little cautiously. “You must be Alaya, I’m Doctor Kalonia. I’ve been your physician since you’ve come to us, I’m glad to see you up.”

“Thanks for that, I, uh, wasn’t exactly enjoying my nap.”

The doctor smiled reassuringly, “Well now that you’re up there are a few tests I’d like to do just to clear everything up.”

Poe glanced down at where Alaya had tightened her grip on his arm and interjected, “I reckon our patient could use a break, just to get used to being alive again. Right, Aya?”

It was her turn to look surprised and she peered at him for a second before he nudged her, “Yeah. A break would be nice. How’s the food here?”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I wanted them to hang out for a while, I just want my babies to have fun

One of the nurses lent a pair of scrubs to Alaya, nervously handing her the pile of clothes before hurrying off without a word. Alaya cocked a brow, “What did I do to her?”

Poe pursed his lips, but skirted the question, “Let’s just get you clothed, we’ve got low-grade military rations to get to.”

She looked at him suspiciously for a moment, before shrugging, “Alright.” She began to wiggle out of the damp singlet she’d been wearing before Poe interrupted,

“Alright, nope, I’m not sure how you guys do it on the Waystation but no stripping in public here.”

Alaya sniggered a little but she hobbled behind a curtain, yanking it closed around her. She peeled off the sticky clothes, wincing at the stiffness of her muscles and slid into the baggy scrubs. She sighed; _Blue was never my colour._ The blue of the scrubs clashed with the orange of her skin, and even for someone who just got out of a coma, she looked sickly. She pulled back the curtain, “Tada.”

Poe gave her a once over but paused on her bare feet, “Did the shoes not fit?”

Alaya scrunched up her nose, “I didn’t give them the chance to.” She had considered the chunky white sneakers for all of two seconds before deciding against them, and Poe’s raised brow only made her feel slightly guilty. “Togruta don’t even like wearing shoes,” she defended, “and we definitely don’t like wearing shoes that ugly.”

“Fine, but don’t complain when your feet get cold. Do you need a cane or something? I saw you shambling around.”

“I know how to walk.” She tried to prove her point by making her way to the door, but her legs felt like jelly and Poe looked like he knew it. He stood with his arms crossed and a massive smile on his face, halfway between smug and amused. “I’ll be fine, seriously. And if I fall, you’ll be right next to me to prove me wrong.”

“Or I could catch you. You’ve got weird priorities.” Alaya rolled her eyes, but Poe just held open the door and said, “M’lady, if you please, the cafeteria awaits.”

They walked quietly together for a little bit, but Poe was never one for comfortable silence, “So when were you going to tell me about all the space wizard stuff?”

Next to him, Alaya paused. Poe didn’t sound mad, just mildly curious but she found herself measuring her response anyway, “I’m not sure what you mean.”

Alaya could read plainly on his face that he wasn’t buying what she was selling, and she knew that her evasion was weak at best. She could usually persuade, manipulate and negotiate with the best of the best, its why she excelled at what she did, but Poe was a frustrating blind spot. Her wandering around a Resistance base was proof enough of that.

She sighed heavily, “Fine, maybe I can do a trick or two. It’s nothing special,” She sent him a quizzical glance, “I don’t exactly _hide_ it, but how did you figure that one out?”

As she studied his face she saw hesitancy, but he still replied, albeit carefully. “Just before you woke up you were… upset? I guess that’s a good way to put it- but things were flying all over the place, and the Major got thrown through the door. The only time I’ve heard of something like that is the stories of Master Skywalker and the Jedi.”

“Oh.” She had stiffened as he spoke, standing with almost ramrod straight.

Alaya voice sounded uncharacteristically small, and it didn’t escape his notice, “You don’t like the Jedi?”

“What? No, they’re not my cup of tea but I’m not really in a position to judge.”

“What’s wrong then?”

"It's just... I didn't hurt her, did I?"

Poe's eyes widened, "Oh no, nothing like that! She was just a bit dazed is all." He saw her shoulders loosen, but she still seemed put out, "You alright?"

She turned away and waved him off, “Let’s just get food.” Alaya started walking again not bothering to wait for Poe.

“How are you planning on finding the canteen without me?” He called after her.

She turned around impatiently, and any vulnerability had been wiped from her face, “Maybe if you catch up you can keep me from getting lost and stumbling onto the Resistance’s dirty little secrets.”

Poe looked like he wanted to say something else, but he just shook his head and jogged after her.

* * *

Alaya gagged, “When I asked if the food was good, I was serious!” Poe looked at a loss for words as Alaya desperately chugged a glass of water to wash away the taste of Monday Night Meatlump. “That’s not even real meat!”

She was lucky the canteen was empty at this time of night or the chef would have eviscerated her. “You haven’t eaten in two weeks, I didn’t think you’d be this picky! Just eat the artificial meat lump.”

“I’m a carnivore, this is basically blasphemy.” She seemed entirely serious, or she did until her stomach rumbled.

Poe slid the tray over to him and sliced off a bit of meat. “If you don’t eat it, I will.”

She narrowed her eyes, “You don’t get to take my food.” Alaya lifted her hand and snapped it into a fist, and the meat he was dangling from the fork shot into her open mouth. A grimace crossed her face but she swallowed roughly as if it proved some point.

“Good work, you just ate shitty cafeteria food.”

“Yeah, well, I’m hungry. Sue me. If you forgot I just woke up after two weeks.” She pulled the cafeteria tray back towards her and tore off another chunk, chewing on it dejectedly. “I was meaning to ask you… where’d you get Aya from?”

“Huh?”

“Earlier. You called me Aya.”

Poe cocked his head and looked at her curiously, but she was occupying herself with cutting up the meat and steadfastly avoiding his gaze. “I don’t know. It’s a nickname, what’s wrong with it?”

She stopped picking at her food for a moment, “Not many people call me that.”

“I can go back to Pumpkin if you like—”

“No. I don’t mind it. And also, just letting you know, I looked up what a pumpkin was. Being _orange_ is not my defining characteristic.”

Poe snorted, “Yeah, you’re also a bad pilot.”

Alaya scowled at him, but she couldn’t quite keep the ends of her lekku curling in amusement— luckily Poe seemed to have no idea about the quirks of Togruta biology. “Sorry we can’t all be the _best pilot in the galaxy_,” He looked entirely too proud of himself at that, so she threw him her best smile and added, “It’s a shame you aren’t either.”

Laughter danced behind his eyes and he didn’t seem phased at all by her jab, “I’ll just have to prove it to you, maybe take you on a spin in Black One if you’re lucky.”

“If Black One is that junker you came to the Waystation in, I’m not interested.”

Poe blew out a breath and shook his head, “Don’t compare her to that piece of trash.”

“_Her?_”

“Yeah, She’s my fighter; T-70 X-Wing, gorgeous, best in the fleet if you ask me. Took her from right under the nose of the Republic when I left.” Alaya watched with interest as he rambled about his ship, taking note of the way he spoke with his hands when he got excited as if conducting some invisible orchestra. She could see why he left the Republic military— whenever they’d tried to arrest her they had seemed rigid, too bogged down in protocol to see her slipping away right under their noses, but Poe had a trace of manic energy and a keen eye that she doubted they would have appreciated.

“So show me,” Alaya interrupted, “I’m finished eating and now you’ve got me all curious about this ship.”

He blinked twice, there were plenty of reasons he shouldn’t; it was the middle of the night, he didn’t have clearance to take off, Kalonia wanted her back in the med bay and Black One was a bit small for two people, but as he opened his mouth to say all of that he found himself saying, “Sure let’s go.”

* * *

As they stepped into the hangar Poe was accosted by a grumpy astromech who was beeping crossly in a string of binary that couldn’t be child safe. “Okay now that’s just rude BB, I haven’t been gone that long.”

Alaya crouched down and examined the droid, “What’s he saying?” She reached out to touch it but jumped back as BB-8 shocked her with a shrill bleep, “Ow, what was that for, you piece of space junk!”

Poe sent her an apologetic look, “Sorry, I told him I’d recalibrate his optics tonight. But then, uh, well you know.”

Alaya didn’t know if droid could give death glares but BB-8 was certainly trying to. In turn she bared teeth at him, much to Poe’s amusement, “Okay you two cut it out. BB can you prep Black One for take-off? Please?”

The droid took one last moment to spitefully trill at Alaya before rushing off. She followed BB-8’s path with her eyes until they rested on an X-wing painted in dark black with strips of orange across its hull. She whistled lowly and glanced between the astromech and the ship, “It looks like you’ve got a thing for orange, should I be worried?” As she glanced over to Poe he was rubbing the back of his neck with a splash of red across his cheeks, “…Are you blushing?”

He looked away, “No, its… warm in here. Wanna take her for a spin?” A sense of hesitance washed over her, and she eyed the fighter with wariness. It definitely crossed her mind that the last time she flew she crashed horribly, “We don’t have to if you don’t want to, Aya.”

She turned to him and exhaled deeply, steeling herself and plastering a smile on her face, “You said you’d show me your ship, I’m guessing half the fun of it is how it… performs.”

Poe’s blush deepened and he groaned, “You’re the worst. Come on, I’ll show you a trick or two.” She turned to him slowly with a widening grin, but he cut in before she could speak, “Nope, don’t say it – I meant manoeuvres and you know it.”

“Sorry am I making Black One jealous?” her tone was airy and she cocked her hip to one side.

“Your joking but if we start malfunctioning mid-air I’m blaming you.” Poe climbed up the ladder and popped the top of the cockpit, “Need a hand up?”

Alaya stared at his proffered hand for a moment and part of her scoffed; _I can climb a ladder by myself thanks. _Another part set her palm onto his and let Poe hoist her up onto the wing, relishing in the feeling of his calloused hand pressed against hers. She smiled and offered a quick, “Thanks.”

Something inside her fluttered happily at the smile that spread across his face and she quickly pulled her hand from his. “So, how are you planning on fitting two of us in there? It’s not the biggest cockpit.”

Poe glanced at the small space and wiggled his eyebrows, “You’d be surprised what you can do in that space.” Alaya’s face screwed up and he laughed, “You should be fine if you sit on my lap, does that work for you?”

The charcoal stripes on her lekku darkened slightly, “Uh… okay, but these tricks better be worth it Dameron.”

He settled into the cockpit and she clambered in awkwardly after him, straddling his legs and then settling down onto his lap. She could feel his breath against the back of her shoulder as the cockpit closed around them, “I feel like steering might be difficult with me in the way…”

“Nah, I could fly her blindfolded. And BB won’t let us crash,” A short string of binary interrupted Poe, “Well, buddy if we crash who’s going to upgrade your optics?”

Alaya shifted uncomfortably, “Seriously we won’t crash, right? I literally just got out of the med bay.”

Poe slipped him hands under her arms and past her waist to grab the controls, “We’ll be fine Aya. Promise.”

With that the engines came to life and Poe guided the X-wing into the air and out of the hangar, Alaya squinted as her eyes adjusted to the darkness cut only by the twin moons. As they gained speed, she found herself being forced back against Poe’s chest and the thin scrubs didn’t do much to dull the feeling of his muscles against her back.

The ground was growing distant now, and the astromech chirped something Alaya didn’t understand. She could feel Poe's growing excitement bubbling in the force with an odd potency, and even when she raised her shields it persisted. She turned as much as she could to look at him but if he noticed anything odd, he wasn’t showing it. He caught her looking at him and his smile widened, “Ready?”

He had to shout to be heard over the engines, but she heard him just fine. In fact, her montrals were almost aching from all the feedback she was getting, normally the ships she flew had at least some soundproofing to make it bearable. Nevertheless, she nodded, and almost immediately Poe dipped the ship into a corkscrew dive. Alaya let out a yelp and grabbed the nearest thing to stabilise herself, which just happened to be Poe’s thigh.

She watched as the forest below rushed up to meet them and she squeezed her eyes shut, but Poe tugged back on the controls and Black One levelled out sharply, skimming the tops of the trees as Poe whooped. Alaya cracked open one eye and let out a breath at the sight of them cruising safely across the canopy, and with it escaped a laugh. She threw her head back against Poe's shoulder and let out a fit of giggles that felt incredibly unlike her. She moved her lips against Poe’s ear so he could hear her, “Again?” she questioned hopefully.

“You think I’d let you off with just one?”

Alaya smiled and caught her lip with her teeth, trying and failing to suppress the happiness welling inside her. Sure, she’d had fun over the years but somehow none of it really stacked up to this, just a moment of unbridled joy.

Black One streaked across the starlit sky, little more than a shadow as it performed twists and dives with easy precision. By now someone would know that Poe had taken her out for a spin, and he’d get a lecture about it later but he found that he didn’t mind all too much. He could fly for hours, especially with Alaya perched on his lap laughing like a little kid. Even so, when he noticed her trying to repress a yawn he slowed the fighter to a crawl, “Ready to head back to base?”

She twisted to face him and her lips dropped into a pout, “Why?”

Poe chuckled, “Alaya, I can see you falling asleep on me, this might be a bit much excitement for a recent coma victim. The Major has probably given up on those tests by now, but I’ll set you up in my room until the med-bay reopens.”

Alaya nodded slowly and rested her head against the cockpit, relishing the cool feeling of the glass against her montral. “As long as you’ve got a couch I can crash on, that works for me.”

“I’m not putting you on my couch, when I visited you guys I got a room all to myself the least I can do is give you my bed,” She looked like she was about to protest but he cut in, “We can argue about it later, I’ve got to set us down.”

BB helped him bring the fighter into the hangar, setting it back into its landing bay. The cockpit lifted open with a hiss and Alaya stretched out, cracking her back as she pulled her shoulders back. She lifted herself out and offered a hand to Poe, who gladly used it to pull himself out of the cockpit. With a yawn she hopped down off the fighter, landing easily without so much as a sound. “You coming?” she called back up to him.

“Most people use ladders you know.”

She scoffed and raised a hand with a look of concentration on her face. Suddenly he felt his feet leave the fighter as she lifted him into the air and lowered him down onto the tarmac. He blinked a few times, “That felt incredibly weird.”

She only shrugged, “It’s faster than a ladder. Now, where’s your room?”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just as things are looking up things are looking down again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a bit shorter than usual, sorry lads writer's block is a bitch

Now she wouldn’t openly admit it, but by the time they got to Poe’s room, she was exhausted. He’d been chatting amiably with her the whole way there but Alaya could barely manage more than a quip or two, so when they got to his door she more than happy to tumble into the room and pass out on the couch. So when he declared that she just had to wait outside she was less than happy.

“Why? I just want to sleep.”

Poe just rolled his eyes, “Calm down, I just need to tidy up, I won’t be a moment.”

So she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes, waiting for him to grant her permission to come in. A yawn tugged out of her chest and she let her mind drift, _maybe I can just sleep out here_. Her eyes fluttered shut and for a moment she floated halfway between consciousness and sleep, but a peal of scraping laughter ripped her back to the waking world. She opened her eyes and glanced anxiously around the corridor, it felt like someone was lurking just behind her. She could feel her hands shaking so she squeezed them into tight fists, focusing on the sharp press of her nails against her palm rather than the frenetic buzzing in her mind.

_Surely the room is tidy by now. _

Alaya rapped on the door, “Poe! Let me in already!” She heard some muffled reply, _at least this time he isn’t asleep_, “It doesn’t take this long to pick up some shirts!”

He still didn’t open the door. “Fine. I’m going to find somewhere else to sleep! Someone else on this base will open their door to a girl wandering around alone at night!”

She heard rushed scuffling and waited with her hands on her hips until a dishevelled Poe appeared in the doorway. He at least had the decency to look sheepish, “Sorry?”

“Just show me your couch so I can pass out.”

“Nah you’re on the bed. And I’ll bet you’re too tired to complain.” He moved aside and she found herself assessing the room, from the bed with too many blankets for such a temperate planet to the shelves filled with spare parts and model ships. But more than anything she noticed that smell again, the sandalwood with hints of vanilla tickling her nose.

She wrinkled her nose, “Does every room you stay in smell like that?”

Poe seemed embarrassed, “Like what? I did say I needed time to clean up…”

“No its…” She closed her eyes and followed her nose to the small refresher, where a small bottle sat on the basin. Alaya pulled the cap off and sniffed it, before sneezing violently. “Cologne?”

“That’s high-end stuff you’re sneezing at, you know.”

She frowned, she was pressed up against him for the better part of an hour earlier and she didn’t catch a whiff of it, “if it’s cologne why does your room smell more like it than you?”

“You’d be surprised how well it works as an air freshener.” Alaya looked over at him with exasperation, but he was entirely serious.

“I need you to know that if I wasn’t about to pass out, I would bully you for this.”

He only smiled, “Come on, get into bed.”

She grumbled but padded over to the pile of blankets and pillows that covered his mattress. “Any chance you have pyjamas?”

“Do you want to sleep or not? Cause for someone who wants to sleep you’re doing a great job of avoiding going to bed.” He sounded jovial, but maybe there was some underlying truth in his words. Yet that didn’t stop him from digging through his dresser and throwing a large shirt her way. “That should fit, even if you are a bit taller than me. Now, if you require anything else, madame, you can find me on the couch.”

She snorted, she was more than a bit taller than him; she had a good couple of inches on him even if you didn’t count the montrals. And you always count the montrals.

Alaya watched out of the corner of her eye as he settled onto the worn couch, pulling a blanket over himself and closing his eyes with a yawn. She pulled off the scrubs and swapped them for the white tee Poe had given her. Now Alaya wasn’t exactly skinny, she liked to make sure she had a bit of muscle to work with, but that did nothing to fill the shirt. She glanced over to where Poe was sleeping on the couch with a raised brow, either he used to have a bit of heft to him or… he had a bit more muscle on him than she’d given him credit for.

She shook her head, she had other priorities right now, the first being finally getting to sleep.

* * *

Poe was busy snoring softly on the couch while she stared at the ceiling blankly thinking bitterly, _at least he’s not having any trouble_. Sleep hadn’t come so easily for Alaya, despite the exhaustion that sank deep into her bones. It wasn’t the snoring that got her, it was the cold flash of fear that struck her each time she closed her eyes for more than a moment.

She slipped out from under the covers and sat on the edge of the bed, letting her feet skim the cool floor. Trying to sleep was pointless, the sun was probably on its way up by now anyway. Instead, she pushed herself to her feet and slunk into the refresher, bracing herself on the basin. The small mirror was dirty but it wasn’t to blame for the dull imitation of her usual self; complete with bags under her bloodshot eyes and washed out, pale skin. She sighed deeply and ran her hands over her lekku, wondering how Poe hadn’t even mentioned her woeful state.

_A shower. That’s what I need. A shower_. She shrugged off the borrowed shirt and unclipped her bra, letting them fall into a pile on the ground. Stepping out of her underwear she turned on the sonic shower— water was always better but she would take what she could get right now. She stood in the cascade of vibrations but the leftover bacta that had dried onto her skin was proving more difficult to remove than anticipated. Before the dried bacta could be sloughed off by the vibrations, she had to scrub at it vigorously. By the time she was satisfied it was gone, her skin was raw from all the scrubbing.

She had intended to get out then, but her hands wouldn’t stop trying to wash some invisible stain off her skin. Her montrals hurt from being bombarded with vibrations for so long but she forced that sensation aside, she was tired, achy, irritable and paranoid, what was one more ailment for the list? Sonic showers removed dirt down to the atomic level, she knew that, but there was this feeling of filthiness that lurked just under her skin, refusing to leave no matter how rigorously she cleaned.

A faint chime cut through her compulsive trance and she paused, staring at the door as if she were a deer caught in headlights. A twinge ran through the force, and Alaya cocked her head closing her eyes as if she were trying to hone in on its source. She slowly reached to the shower controls, shutting them off as the chime continued to float into the fresher. It sounded like… one of those new synth glitz songs? Another twinge, this time distinctly Poe. Alaya’s eyes snapped open, filled with interest. She could literally _feel_ him waking up. Which meant that the peppy chiming was his alarm.

She set aside her amusement at that little tidbit (although she would make sure she mentioned it later) and finished up in fresher, pulling on her shirt just as Poe knocked on the door, “Hey, you in there Aya?”

“Just finishing up Dameron, you can wait do your hair for a moment.” Alaya quipped at the door in a tone that she hoped was light enough to cover up her earlier anxiety. She gave herself a once over in the mirror, she looked marginally more presentable, at the very least her headtails had a bit more vibrancy to them.

She slid the door open to a worried-looking Poe blocking her way out, “I thought you’d wandered off somewhere,” he grumbled.

She snorted at that, even if she wanted to wander off she wasn’t about to do it without pants on. “I was just showering, no need to get your panties in a twist. What time is it?”

He glanced back to the clock on the wall and Alaya took her chance to slip by him and out of the refresher. “It’s only 0700,” he pursed his lips slightly, “You must have been up early if you’re already washed up.”

Her eyes flitted to the ground, “Couldn’t sleep.”

Poe looked like he was about to say something but she fixed him with a stern look and he shut his mouth. He watched as Alaya began to remake his bed, meticulously tucking in the sheets and straightening the pillows. As she leaned over his shirt rode up her hips exposing the soft curve of her—_nope, looking away. I am looking away, _he cleared his throat and retreated into the fresher to start getting ready for the day.

* * *

When he dropped her off at the med bay Poe was quickly ushered away by a scowling Kalonia, “I cannot believe that you kidnapped my patient to take her on a _joyride_, Captain.”

He shrank away from the seething doctor, he knew from experience that she could be absolutely lethal when you pissed her off, “I didn't mean to! it just happened by accident... Come on Major, she just woke up. No one wants to be prodded at after that.”

All that earned him was a deepening scowl, “That _prodding _is important, she could have brain damage! And that’s not even considering the stunt she pulled when she woke up.”

“She obviously didn’t mean to do that— Hey, stop it!” Kalonia had resorted to shoving him roughly out the door and apparently her time as a doctor had done nothing to weaken the muscles she’d gotten as a field nurse. With one last push, he was outside the med bay and the door slammed shut in his face.

He let out a huff and started to walk away but apparently Kalonia wasn’t done with him. The door slid open again and she yelled out to him, “And don’t think I didn’t tell the General about this! She wants to see you at command. Don’t be late.”

Poe scowled and muttered some choice words under his breath. In all honesty, he didn’t regret a minute of it, but Leia was guaranteed to bring that into question. He dragged his feet as he made his way to the control room but he got there in the end. He was probably late but in his defence, he didn’t actually know when he was meant to be there.

“Poe, its good to see you in one piece. I didn’t know if Harter would let you off the hook so easily.” Leia had an amused glimmer in her eyes as he stepped in the room, which was a good sign. He learnt pretty quickly that you only really had to be worried when she was quiet.

“You know me General, I can talk my way out of anything.” He grinned and she shook her head with fond exasperation.

“I give you a lot of leeway Poe, I would appreciate if you didn’t exploit that to bother our medical staff."

"I can't promise anything," Even if you couldn't see his face, you could have heard the smug grin in his voice, "So what's my punishment? Training the newbies? Scrubbing the officer's toilets?"

Leia shook her head suddenly looking more solemn, "No, your squadron will be back in a few days and I'll need you to debrief them. I can't waste you on menial tasks for the moment. But I need to talk to you about your guest."

A sliver of apprehension wormed its way into his chest but he kept his expression as neutral as he could, “What, Alaya?”

“Yes, Alaya. I heard some… disturbing reports,” He didn’t miss that the little glimmer in her eye had disappeared replaced with sharp steel, “I know better than most what this could lead to Poe. I want her off-base as soon as she’s cleared to leave, and we’ll be keeping our distance from now on. She’s dangerous and I will not put this operation at risk. Understood?”

He stammered for a moment. That was ridiculous, Alaya was a little rough around the edges but she wasn’t dangerous. “General— Leia, with all due respect I don’t think Alaya would ever—”

“How well do you really know her Captain? She was your drinking buddy one time, my _son _fell; he did unimaginable things. I thought I knew him. My word on this is final. We’ll keep working with the Waystation but that’s as far as our relationship with them will go.” Poe hesitated. He wasn’t naïve enough to say she didn’t have a point. Alaya wasn’t an angel, she was a criminal and from her track record a good one. Leia only stared stonily at him as if she knew exactly what he was thinking, “You’re dismissed, Dameron.”

Poe’s jaw clenched and unclenched before he turned to leave. Just as he reached the door Leia’s voice made him turn back to her, “I know its hard Poe. But the resistance can’t risk that that kind of liability.” Her eyes were softer now, like a mother teaching her child a hard lesson. He couldn’t hold her gaze for long, so he dropped his eyes to the floor and nodded.

The way she clung to him after she woke up kept replaying in his mind. She seemed terrified. Of what he didn’t know, but she was hardly a threat because of it. But he trusted Leia to make the right call, and he couldn’t deny that out of everyone she knew the harm that rogue force users could do. Keeping their distance made sense.

He didn’t like it, but he understood. The New Republic had refused to acknowledge the threat the First Order posed, and people had gotten hurt. His friends had gotten hurt. He couldn’t fault the General for trying to stop the same thing from happening. None of that stopped the guilt settling in his stomach.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Senators are so useless, getting themselves kidnapped left, right and centre.

The First Order had never been the only threat the Resistance faced, and it was beginning to get annoying to have to rescue clueless senators from upstart bounty hunters every month. Especially given that after their ordeal was over they refused to support the Resistance anyway.

Today it was Thanlis Depallo, senator for Commenor and absolute prick, who probably got kidnapped while philandering at some upscale brothel. But intelligence said that he had key information about the New Republic military, and no one wanted that being sold to the highest bidder. So Black Squadron was sent out to deal with it.

They were technically meant to be on leave after a few difficult missions, but none of them were about to pass up an opportunity to get back into the action even if they had to put up with a politician. After he’d sent the message to them they were off-world in less than an hour.

“Alright guys, let’s not blow this ship up until we get the Senator off it.” Poe commed his team as they approached the source of the distress beacon.

Karé’s distinctive snicker came through in return, “Aye aye, captain.”

Jess groaned, “Come on Karé, I don’t want to be stuck patrolling a backwater planet again.”

“Oh come on, Mirial wasn’t that bad last time,” Snap chimed in, “Besides if this senator is as bad as the last one maybe it's worth a trip to Panna.”

Poe laughed, Panna was about as backwater as you could get. “And I bet you guys are just going to leave me with all the paperwork afterwards?”

“We aren’t that cruel Captain. We’ll just cover it up, so no one ever knows.” Suralinda sounded unnaturally chirpy and peals of laughter echoed over the channel from her fellow pilots. She switched back to her usual husky tone, “Whatever we do can we at least make it quick? This transport has the offensive capability of a duracrete slug.”

Poe did feel slightly bad about that, the rest of them were in their X-Wings but she’d drawn the short straw, someone had to have space for the Senator. “We’ll make up for it Sura. You’ve got the best pilot in the galaxy on your side.” He grinned as he heard the string of groans come through from his squadmates, “Yeah well, you won’t be complaining when we get into a fight. Speaking of, we should be dropping out of hyperspace in a minute or two, make sure you’re ready for anything.”

“Or maybe another load of nothing?” Karé helpfully supplied. They’d followed the ship over 3 different jumps now, just missing it each time.

“Maybe. But BB says that we’ve got them this time.”

BB chirped in affirmation, the signal from the distress beacon was still transmitting from a small refuelling station. With any luck, they would catch them in atmo, and hopefully on the back foot.

“First one to board gets a free round back at base?” Snap suggested.

Jess was never one to back down from a challenge, “I’ll take that bet, Wexley.”

A round of agreement was only interrupted by Suralinda, “And what am I supposed to do? Sit around like a wet blanket?” She sulked.

You could hear Karé’s smirk over the comm as she replied, “If you board first I’ll buy your drinks for a month.”

Poe sucked a breath in. That was a big call, Sura could put drinks away like it was nobodies business. There was a moment of silence over the comm as the Squamatan considered the offer. “Deal.”

Poe let out a low whistle, “The stakes have never been higher.” BB beeped out a warning to them, “Thanks bud. Dropping out in 5, Black Squadron.”

_5... _ _4... _ _3... _ _2..._

_1._

They dropped out in a cluster and were immediately illuminated by a series of green blasts,

“Oh shit.”

* * *

Xó whooped in the front seat as Alaya gripped the handles looking vaguely faint, she’d almost had the luxury of forgetting how nauseating Xó’s flying could be. But the Waystation had a reputation to uphold and having their customers abducted wasn’t part of it, so they’d tracked Senator Depallo’s distress beacon. Besides, it was a good excuse to get out and about.

The U-Wing swerved to avoid a series of missiles before peppering the side of the ship with blaster bolts. Alaya glanced back and saw one of the transport's engines crumpling under the blow as Xó heckled, “Take that you amateurs! How are you gonna escape without a hyperdrive?” 

Alaya knew she was mostly here as a boarding party rather than a co-pilot but that didn’t mean she wasn’t paying any attention. She frowned as 5 dots appeared on her radar approaching in an attack formation, “Xó we’ve got incoming fighters at 8 o’clock, closing fast.”

“Hostile?”

Alaya bit back, “I don’t know do you want me to stop and ask them?” Xó bit her lip as if considering the option, “I was joking!”

“I know! But it’s not a horrible idea! Just tell them to kriff off!”

“I cannot believe you’re serious right now! We are having a serious conversation about appropriate times to chat after this…” Despite all of that she spun to the console in front of her and tried to establish a connection with the pilots who’d just appeared out of hyperspace.

“Hello? This is a private concern, if you’d kindly kriff off we’d be _very_ happy. Did you get that?” A vague static flurry of words was almost decipherable, but it didn’t seem to be in particular agreeance with her. It didn’t help their case that they were still approaching rapidly, “Do not approach further, we’re handling this!”

Xó gave her a wry look, “Worth a shot?” Alaya only shook her head and Xó sighed, “Well get on the cannons, negotiate the traditional way.”

She did as she was told and tried to line up a shot all while Xó continued to beat up the old transport. Alaya squinted at the approaching fighters, _they looked… familiar? _“Xó, is there any reason the Resistance would be mad at us?”

“Nothing I can think of as late, we’ve been a good little corporate sponsor.”

She abandoned the guns and switched back to the communicator, “Hello? Don’t fire, this is Alaya Tano and Xó Whitsing from the Waystation. I repeat do not fire.”

This time an unfamiliar voice made it through the comm, it had a husky edge to it but it was clearly feminine, “We have orders to recover the cargo of that vessel, we can’t do that if you shoot it down.” She’d thought… _no never mind_.

Alaya shook her head and shot back, “Woah, Woah that _cargo_ is one of our customers, I already said we’re handling it.”

“He’s carrying important— "

Alaya let out an exasperated groan, “For kriffs sake!” and cut off the connection. “Xó get me onto that ship, I’m sick of dealing with them.”

Xó replied with a razor-sharp smile, “That’s all you had to say.” She steered the ship to rest against the transports docking hatch before latching on with practised ease. Alaya hopped up and skidded to a stop in front of the airlock. They could waste time breaching security or Alaya could just… she ignited one of her sabres and shoved it into the door of the transport. She pulled it in a circle and shoved it with a burst of force that sent it flying into the other ship.

_That was easy._ Either these guys were stupid or planning something, when you get boarded you don’t just let the boarding party waltz in. She clipped her sabre back with its twin and swapped it with a blaster. _Safer that way_.

Alaya stalked through the hallways, checking rooms as she went. No disgruntled Senator yet. Nor any of the pirates that took him which was worrying. An explosion rocked the ship and she stabilised herself on the wall, _kriffing Resistance doesn’t know when to stop._

Picking up her pace she jogged through the ship but as she rounded a corner a blast just barely missed her arm. With a yelp she ducked behind cover, firing back blindly. The shots stopped and she rolled out into a crouch; grazing the arm of a Quarren and hitting something humanoid in the chest. He dropped to the floor, dead or at least close to it, but the Quarren only swore and scrambled to cover. Alaya used to force to yank him off balance and he fell the floor with a groan.

She leapt forward and placed a foot on his chest, pointing her blaster at his head. “Where’s the Senator?”

“No idea what you’re talkin bout.” He spat out.

His buddy groaned behind her and without taking her eyes off her prey, she fired a single shot ending the groaning. “I’m not kidding around. Senator, now.”

His eyes widened and he looked around trying to find a way out. “I— He’s in the brig, downstairs, to the left.”

Alaya smiled showing her fangs a little, “Thanks.” She began to walk away and he scrambled for his blaster. _Classic_. He stopped scrambling pretty quickly after she put a blaster bolt through his head.

She made it to the brig easily enough once she knew where she was going, and the dishevelled Senator was waiting right where he was meant to be. “It's your lucky day, you’re being rescued.” She smiled at him, no less threatening than earlier. She liked to reserve it for those _please-cooperate-for-your-own-good _situations.

He nodded vigorously and she untied his gag, pulling him up to his feet. His voice was grating when he replied, “Just get me out of here, I was expecting assistance earlier and I have a meeting on Hosnian Prime in a day.”

She rolled her eyes and pushed him out of the cell, “I don’t work for you hotshot, now let’s get…”

In front of her stood none other than Poe Dameron with a blaster aimed right in her face.

* * *

“Alaya, if you’d kindly release the Senator.” He kept his voice as level as he could, but she was glaring daggers at him.

She raised a brow, the white marking drifting up her forehead, “You don’t seriously think _I_ kidnapped him.” Her voice was drier than Tatooine.

“No, but you have him now, which doesn’t really work for me,” He paused and lowered the blaster a little, “Do you really have to make this difficult?”

“Oh! I thought my entire existence was difficult for you guys, or did you conveniently forget that?” Poe cringed, the last time he saw her he was stumbling over an obviously fake explanation and ushering her off base. She’d called him out on it of course, but all that left them with was hurt feelings and bad blood. Alaya didn't miss his discomfort, “Yeah… that’s what I thought.”

The Senator leant in, butting in between them and they both snapped at the same time, “What!”

His lips pursed and he sounded as if he’d just been denied entry into his favourite club, “Well I just wanted to ask you to settle this little quarrel after we get off this deathtrap.”

Alaya rolled her eyes but grabbed the Senator’s arm and tried to drag him with her, “I’m taking him. He’s our client.”

Poe scowled and grabbed the other available arm, “Not on my watch Pumpkin.” He could swear she almost growled, “I’ll make you a deal, you take him and we meet up at the Waystation. We’ll take him off your hands from there.”

“I must remind you I have a meeting—”

“Deal. Come on Bag of Bones you’ve got a tab to pay.” She pulled Depallo away and shoved him around a corner, and she was about to follow when Poe yelled after her.

“Wait!” She hesitated for a second before turning back around with a weary expression, “What are the coordinates this time?” Her face dropped almost imperceptibly and with a sigh, she stomped back towards him.

“Arm?”

“What?”

“Give me your arm idiot. I’ll put the coords through your comm. Your astromech is on the other end, right?”

He nodded and Alaya pulled his arm up to tap in the coordinates. She was about to finish when she suddenly stiffened, “Duck!”

A flash of white came up past his face and he dropped to the ground. He looked up to see Alaya deflecting a series of bolts back down the hallway with two brilliant white sabres. Poe looked in awe for a moment before pulling himself to his feet behind her. He’d never seen a Jedi in action. Or whatever she called herself. She moved almost like a blur, only missing one or two shots that sailed by without incident.

She yelled over her shoulder to him, “Cover me!”

Poe nodded and sent his own volley in return while Alaya sprinted down the hallway with her blades skimming the floor behind her leaving hot red scars in the metal. The suppressing fire forced the 4 pirates back for a moment, but their numbers were cut down to 3 pretty quickly as Alaya's sabres were brought up in a wide arc, slicing through the torso of a Weequay. One of Poe's shots landed and brought down another, but he didn’t get a chance to test his marksmanship again. Alaya reached out and pulled one of them towards her, skewering the woman on one of the white blades before slashing through the neck of the one remaining pirate with the other.

She looked terrifying standing amongst the carnage and Poe had never been more impressed, “Thanks for, you know, not letting me get shot.”

Her sabres retreated back into their hilts and she brushed past him, “This doesn’t mean I like you.”

He grinned, “I never said anything about liking me.”

Alaya threw him a glare and kept walking. Some part of him expected her to continue their banter but she just skulked around the corner. He could vaguely hear her ordering the Senator to get up off the floor but that was it. Yes, they’d left things on bad terms but it had been a few months ago. Surely she had some perspective about the whole thing by now.

He waited for a moment, he didn’t know for what. Maybe he wanted her to turn back for one last glance, maybe he just needed a second to compose himself. She always got under his skin. With a sigh, he raised his comm to his mouth, “Okay so bad news is I don’t have the Senator. Good news I know who does.”

Jess groaned, “You’re kidding? You lost him?”

“I didn’t _lose _him—”

He was cut off by a displeased Snap, “You know this means you don’t get those free drinks anymore?”

“Those weren’t the rules of the bet! I got on board first, I get a free round of drinks.”

Karé cut back, “You obviously didn’t get on board first if someone else has Depallo.”

Poe sighed, “Look BB is sending you all coordinates, just put them in your systems. We’re heading to the Waystation."


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Waystation hasn't changed all that much since Poe was last there, of course, that is excluding the co-owner who is still considerably annoyed with him

Xó was laughing hysterically as Alaya sat with her head thrown back and hands covering her face, “Stop laughing, it's not funny!”

“Oh please, you don’t think it’s a bit funny that you ran into him today of all days?”

“I was drunk, can’t you just drop it?”

“But Neev was so disappointed! Or what was it you called him last night?”

Alaya groaned, “Xó…”

Xó placed a manicured finger on her lips, “No, that’s not quite right. It’s close… was it Moe?”

“You’ve more than made your point. But so what? It doesn’t _mean _anything.” Xó looked over and Alaya crumbled almost instantly. She could lie to herself, but not her best friend. “It’s a stupid crush that will go away as soon as I spend more than 5 minutes alone with him. I’m positive.”

Xó only snorted, “Tell me that when you aren’t moaning his name to the wrong guy.” Alaya started to retort but Xó cut her off quickly, “How’s our passenger doing?”

Alaya spun around in the co-pilot seat, peering down into the hull of their ship. The Senator was sitting uncomfortably on the collapsible seats in the centre of the room, apparently not knowing how to sit properly in a chair that isn’t covered in satin. She spun back, “Yeah he’s just fine. He’ll be happier once we get a few _we’re sorry_ drinks into him and comp him a dance or two.”

“Aren’t they always?” Xó sent her a wry smile, “We’re going to have to move, aren’t we?”

Alaya nodded, “Yeah, someone’s obviously leaked the details if those dipshits managed to get in,” She looked over as her friend sighed, “What?”

“It’s just that Pillio is so pretty. Every so often when I see it out the window I’ll just stare at it until it we spin away again,” Her voice was appreciative, but it quickly fell flat again, “The next place will probably be some grey dustball.”

“It’s hard to find a pretty uninhabited planet, people tend to like the picturesque worlds. If it makes you feel better the next one I’ve got lined up is Celsor 3, which is more icy than dusty.”

Xó hummed softly, “We should visit before we go. Pillio, I mean.”

“Visit? Like just head down there and look around?”

She gave a nonchalant shrug, “Yeah, why not? When’s the last time you were planet-side?”

“I guess back on D’Qar,” Alaya worried at her bottom lip, “That could be nice actually, a mini-vacation.”

“Wanna invite boy toy to come join us?”

Alaya swatted her friend's shoulder, “Shut up. He’s such a dick anyway, I don’t know why I’d want him there. Besides I’d rather someone who wasn’t at the beck and call of a 60-year woman with a grudge against me.”

Xó pouted dramatically, “But your babies would be so cute!”

“Keep this up and I’ll go keep the Senator company instead of you.”

“You wouldn’t leave me for that old fart, he isn’t even cute.” Alaya looked back, she was right of course. Back in the day he might have looked okay, but there was a reason he paid for the girls now. And boys on some occasions. Right now, he looked vaguely offended that they would have the nerve to talk about him right in front of his face.

“What do you think Senator Depallo?” Alaya wiggled her eyebrows at him, “Do you think we could make it work, with the age gap and all?”

He huffed, “I’m only 73.”

Alaya did some mental maths, and sniggered, “Xó, he’s only 41 years older than me, I think this could really be something.” She kicked her feet up onto the dash and gazed into the blue vortex of hyperspace, “Or maybe not, I don’t know if I can get invested in someone who’s going to drop dead at the altar.”

“I have already have a wife, thank you very much. And I don’t appreciate you talking this way, you might not get my business the next time I decide to come out.” He turned his nose up and looked away from the pair of women.

Xó rolled her eyes, “Well we’re almost back, while you’re paying off your tab you can you remind yourself why we’re your top choice of establishment,” She put a suggestive lilt in her voice, “I know Sherri would miss you if you left.”

The Senator sighed wistfully, “That she would.”

* * *

Suralinda was looking around curiously, not bothering to hide the fact that she was cataloguing the dirty secrets playing out before her, “This place seems less than legitimate, Poe.”

He shrugged, “We aren’t exactly legitimate either, but yeah there’s definitely a seedy element. Come on, if Leia wants a Senator we ought to give it to her.”

He started to make his way into the bar but his squad lingered behind for a moment, with Karé looking pointedly at Snap while Jess shuffled her feet. They all knew Poe was acting odd, they’d been sent to make sure the Senator and the information he had didn’t end up with the First Order. And even if they didn’t do it themselves, the mystery ship certainly had. Snap waved his arms indecipherably, while Sura massaged her forehead in frustration. He yelped quietly as Karé slogged him in the shoulder causing Poe to turn around in confusion, “You guys coming?”

Snap started to nod but Sura prodded his back with a sharp nail, “Jeez okay, okay—Poe we were just wondering, why exactly are we here?”

Poe’s head cocked to the side, “To get the Senator. Obviously. Now let’s go.”

None of them moved except Jess who stepped forward hesitantly, “Well, the Senator is safe already. All we were meant to do was get him out of his uh, sticky situation.”

“By the looks of it he’s in a different sticky situation now,” Karé gestured to the dancers wandering around the room with her snicker causing a girl with blonde hair in a barely-there outfit to throw her a glare before slithering away into the crowd, “but it’s hardly something he needs saving from.”

Poe stammered for a moment before Sura cut in harshly, “What we’re saying is that we don’t mind if you wanted to drag us to some seedy cantina, but drop the pretence, Depallo is more than fine.”

“There’s no pretence!”

Poe was starting to sound agitated, and Snap stepped towards him with his hands raised placatingly, “Okay, no worries then. Let’s get the Senator.” With a pat on the shoulder, Snap brushed past him and made his way into the crowd. Karé sighed and followed him, dragging a protesting Sura with her. Poe watched the two girls disappear into the crowd and turned back to a concerned looking Jess.

“You know when Sura got that transmission, she mentioned a name. Alaya? I’ve heard it around base a few times.”

He shrugged, “She runs this place, I wouldn’t be surprised if her name comes up every now and then. People stop by here all the time” His response sounded evasive and he knew it.

She let out a huff of breath, “I suppose. But that doesn’t really explain why you’d take her out flying, and in Black One too.”

Poe stiffened a little, but shrugged it off with a hollow laugh, “So I can’t have my fun while you guys are out and about?” He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, “Come on, let’s get a drink, if anything I’ve heard about Depallo is true we’ll find him at the bar.”

*****

Alaya slid through the crowd with practised ease, trying to ignore the way her heart was yearning for a guy she’d known for about 3 days total. Maybe less. It didn’t help that she could feel the force practically laughing at her stubbornness.

When she was little she was totally infatuated with this older boy, he had the most gorgeous purple skin. And his eyes… they were like actual sapphires. She’d been totally in love, or as much as a 15-year-old can be in love. But if she saw him now, well, she’d choose Poe in a heartbeat. Which is why it felt like a freight train had just ploughed through her when she saw him laughing with his arm slung around another girl.

She bit the inside of her cheek and looked away, chuckling to herself dejectedly. Yeah, she didn’t know what she was expecting. _Probably for the best._ She pushed whatever she was feeling down, she could sort that out later, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t be curious…

Her hearing was muffled by the throngs of people much to her frustration. She manoeuvred around people who really shouldn’t have been there (they really had to move soon), trying to get just a bit closer. The girl with him was about his height, with cool beige skin that was mostly covered by a bright orange flight suit that matched Poe’s and black hair twisted into a plait. Alaya could hear snippets now if she focused, but it all seemed banal. She was expecting juicy details about their love life but all she got was chit chat about some supply run they’d done last week.

Perhaps she should have stopped with that, but something drove her to drift a little closer to where they were sitting at the bar. Subtlety was never her strong suit, and the multicoloured horns bursting out of her skull didn’t help with that. She pushed past a broad nautolan who spilt his drink on a passing girl, who in turn yelled entirely too loud in surprise.

Alaya sucked a breath in and turned back to her targets, the girl was frowning in her direction and Poe started to turn as well. She looked around nervously and spun around, trying to cover her face.

“Alaya?” Poe’s voice made her cringe inwardly, and who was she kidding, a bit outwardly too.

She turned back around apprehensively not quite meeting his eyes, “Wow, hi, didn’t… see you there. I was just coming down to…” She trailed off for a second before locking onto a cocktail one of the girls was about to serve. She grabbed it with a smile, much to the disdain of the customer, “...grab a drink!”

She lifted her eyes to meet his for the first time, Force she was glad Togruta didn’t blush if she were human she would be embarrassed enough to turn bright red. Poe was looking at her as if she were insane and that girl was sitting there looking entirely too amused with the entire situation. “Poe, I think I saw Sura struggling with an admirer, I’ll leave you to it.”

Alaya frowned, and her jealousy faltered for a moment, “That doesn’t fly in here. If it's unwanted I mean, flirting is perfectly okay. If they don’t knock it off let me know, I’ll see them out.”

The girl looked mildly impressed, “Sounds great to me. As long as _out_ means the airlock.” She winked and slid down from the barstool, pushing her way through the crowd towards a blue girl scowling at a scrawny guy. 

Alaya found her lip curling up in approval. Whoever she was, wasn’t half bad.

“So—” She started

“How’ve—” Their words overlapped as they both tried to speak at the same time. Alaya rolled her eyes, _So cliché. _

“I was going to say I like your girlfriend. Very... _you_.” She couldn’t say she wasn’t impressed with herself, her voice was even and she almost sounded like she meant it.

Poe somehow looked more bewildered than he had before, “She’s not my girlfriend— I mean I don’t have a girlfriend. Jess is my squadmate, damn good one too.”

Alaya shrugged as nonchalantly as she could, “Okay, you two seemed close is all…” She trailed off for a moment as if there were something more she wanted to say, but she only smiled tightly and asked; “I believe I owe you a Senator?”

“What no foreplay, Pumpkin?” Poe tried to joke but her smile dropped just a touch before she schooled her face into an unimpressed mask.

“It’s a shame, I’m so good at it.” Her voice was dry, “But no. I’ve got Thanlis Depallo in a private room awaiting your presence.”

“How’d you convince him to do that? Senators don’t tend to like the Resistance.”

Her mask was broken by a conspiratorial smirk, “He may be under the impression that you’re a dancer with a particularly ample bosom named Sherri.” She stood up and placed her drink back onto the counter, “You coming?”

His jaw clenched for a moment as he looked at the glass, she could practically see the gears turning in his head, “What happened to wanting a drink?”

She looked back at the untouched cocktail of exotic alcohol, mentally kicking herself, “...Didn’t like how it tasted.”

He locked eyes with hers, filled with a flash of challenge, “You didn’t take a sip.”

“I didn’t like how it looked.” Alaya was starting to remember why she thought he was so annoying, “Look, he won’t wait for much longer.” The warning in her voice was enough to get Poe off his (admittedly perky) ass to follow her as she slinked through the crowd to the unsuspecting senator.

After they cleared the thickest of the crowd Alaya slowed down a bit till they were side by side. “Do you wanna tell me why you’re bothering with this guy? I mean you said yourself he doesn’t like you.”

Poe cleared his throat, “I seem to recall you not liking us either.”

“Yeah well, not everyone has a Xó to change their mind. And disliking authority is a general rule of mine. For good reason apparently.”

Her point didn’t miss him, and neither did her barbed tone. He grabbed her arm, “Hey— about Leia.” He didn’t really know what he planned to say next and by the unimpressed look on Alaya’s face, she knew that too.

She shook his arm off, “Don’t bother, you’ve said all you need to say already.”

“Obviously not if you’re still mad.”

Alaya gave him a wry smile, “I’m sure you’ve heard I’m not mad, just disappointed before, so I won’t do you the disservice of saying it.”

She pointed at a curtained off area with a burly guard turning away curious partygoers, “Your guy’s in there; if you can make it quick. People come here _not_ to be harassed.” She made to leave but she turned back.

“By the way, if you tell anyone about the whole—” She mimed swinging a sabre, “—thing? I’ll hunt you down and kill you.”

Poe let himself chuckle and shook his head, “I wouldn’t expect anything less. Uh, what about our friend?”

She smiled, “He didn’t see too much to begin with, but he knows… the _consequences_ for loose lips.”

His teeth caught his bottom lip, “Sounds serious.” Poe met her mossy green eyes, still gleaming playfully, “Well. I’ve got business to attend to. See you around Aya.”

“See you around Flyboy.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Xó is perhaps the best wingman ever, and Alaya owes her a gift basket or something

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um so I didn't mean to do this but I did? So this is now rated Mature and contains scenes that could be considered very sexual in nature
> 
> Also, this chapter is unreasonably long and I will not apologise.

The bar was beginning to quiet down, most people had decided to call it a night and whoever was left would be booted out by security soon enough. Xó could have left too, but there was something cathartic about cleaning up after a busy night. That, and she’d been late for her shift on account of the whole kidnapping situation, it felt a bit uncouth to make the others handle close after they already covered for her earlier.

She hummed quietly as she wiped down the bar, enjoying the soft music drifting around the room. After this all she had to do was a quick stock check and then she could head up to bed. Her shoulders were aching from the hard plasteel of the pilot’s chair and the scrubbing she was doing now didn’t help; the soft embrace of her bed sounded as good as a spa weekend on Naboo. _Maybe I can get some cushions installed, _she wondered to herself. The old U-Wing had been through a lot, it wasn’t like one more upgrade could hurt. She could still remember finding it in a junkyard back on Ryloth as if the bit of damage it had taken completely put it out of commission. Some people just didn’t know a good ship when it flew by them.

With one last pass over the counter, Xó deemed it clean enough to pass inspection. Of course, she was the one who did inspections, but that was just a small benefit of being the owner. She threw her rag into the sink and scanned the rest of the bar. Everyone had left, barring a small group loitering in the back corner, and none of them seemed to be drinking. If they wanted more they probably would have bothered her for a top-up already… but she supposed it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

“Hey, just so you know its last call. If you guys need rooms I can grab you some keys?” Their heads all turned to her in unison, as if their matching flight suits meant they shared the same 4 brain cells, but none of them replied, “Uh is that a no?”

One of the women- a blue squamatan with a lithe body- flashed her a smile, exposing a pair of wicked-looking fangs, “We’re okay thanks, we’re just waiting for someone.”

Xó narrowed her eyes and examined the little group, “Ah, well you see the thing is… we don’t babysit overnight unless you get a room.”

The woman’s brown eyes glimmered with a hint of excitement at the challenge in Xó's tone. She sauntered over to the bar and set her elbows on the counter, “And you can’t make an exception for us? For me?”

Xó smiled and leant in to whisper in the girl's ear, “Not if you keep your elbows on my freshly cleaned counter.”

She pulled back, clearly irritated that her usual tactics had failed, but that didn’t stop her from jumping back into the fray, “Ah so there’s a chance?”

Xó considered dramatically for a moment, tapping her finger on her lips, “Depends if your flirting is always this good. Keep it up and you’ll get a free drink too. What’s your name?”

The woman’s dark purple lips spread into a wide smile, “Suralinda, but you can call me Sura if you make good on that free drink.”

Xó grabbed a bottle from under the counter and slid a glass of amber liquid to her new acquaintance, “Sura it is. But don’t think I don’t know what your doing, I’m just enjoying it too much to call security on you.” Sura nodded in thanks, “So I’m assuming you lot are pilots?”

“Resistance. We’re here on account of a kidnapped senator. Very important stuff.”

A laugh bubbled out of Xó’s mouth, “That was you guys?”

Sura’s smile collapsed into a confused look, “What do you mean _that was you guys_? Do rumours spread that quickly around here?”

Xó twirled around and started to put bottles back into their rightful place. When she replied her tone was light, and maybe a little bit mocking, “No, I just happen to be the girl who flew circles around you guys.”

She slotted a bottle onto the top shelf and turned back around to the pilot eyeing her with quiet curiosity, “I suppose you’re waiting for Mr Dameron then? He might be a while, last I heard he was in the VIP section doing some negotiations.”

Xó watched as Sura digested that information. She beckoned to her squad with a quick wave of her blue fingers, “We might have to take you up on your offer of a room.”

“As long as you’ve got the credits to make that happen.”

* * *

The Senator had been surprisingly willing to talk, but the gratitude of being rescued quickly wore off as Poe pressed the ‘help the resistance’ angle. “You know I can’t do that, I’ve got appearances to uphold— and my constituents will never accept warmongering on behalf of Darth Vader’s spawn.”

“So the people of Commenor would rather rehash what happened during Operation Cinder?”

The Senator scowled, “You have presented absolutely no evidence that this First Order is a threat of that magnitude. The best you can provide are records of some skirmishes that could have just as easily been with pirates.” Poe squeezed his hands together, trying to release the frustration that was building behind his temples. The Senator continued in a breezy tone, “I took this meeting as a courtesy to the owner, but it seems this might have been a waste of my time.”

“Sir— "

“Please address me as Senator Depallo or not at all. There is very little I can offer to you in terms of support, but I can assure you I will not align myself with any military organisation. Both the Resistance and First Order included.”

Poe hesitated. _That was better than nothing. _“Senator Depallo, thank you for your time. I’ll let General Organa know your stance, but we are always happy to talk with you again if you reconsider.”

With a grunt Thanlis pulled himself to his feet, his age evident in the slight groan of his knees, “Any chance one of you pilots will fly me back to Hosnian Prime? I believe I mentioned an important meeting I have tomorrow.”

“No can-do, Senator. But I’m sure you can pay some grifter to help you out.” Poe clapped the man on the back and headed to the exit. In all honesty, this was the expected outcome, but he always tried to hold out a bit of hope that not everyone in the Senate was blind to what was happening.

Just as he was about the leave the door swung open and smashed him in the face with a sickening crunch. Pain bloomed across his face as blood streamed from his nose, “_Kriffing_ Hell.” His eyes scrunched closed as he bent over in pain, “What place even has swinging doors nowadays!”

Poe tipped his head back pinching the bridge of nose trying to stem the flow of blood as someone apologised profusely, “Shit, I’m so sorry!” He pried one of his eyes open and was met with Xó’s signature teal lekku.

He groaned and spoke with a nasal voice, “Please don’t tell me you’re here to kick me out, I’m already going.”

She grimaced, “I wasn’t planning on kicking you out, but I’m not about to let you get blood everywhere either.” Her arm wrapped around his waist, “You just keep your head back, I’ll take you to our med bay.”

Poe eyed her the best he could from while still tilting his head back, “You have a med bay now?”

Xó guided him out the door, “Yeah, Alaya wasn’t exactly keen on having to visit you guys again. Not that I blame her, and it gave MX something to do.” He hummed in acknowledgement, trying to avoid moving his head too much, “Right, sorry I won’t make you talk. I set your team up with some rooms so you guys can stay overnight, that droid will insist on checking up on you in the morning anyway.”

A drop of blood made its way onto her shirt and she scrunched up her nose, as Poe mumbled an apology, “Alaya is going to be so mad when she hears about this,” He looked over in confusion, and Xó elaborated, “If anyone got the chance to hit you in the face with a door, well she’d want it to be her.”

His laugh quickly morphed into a groan as the consequence of said door hitting made itself known again.

“Come on, we’re almost there. Don’t fall apart just yet.” She was quiet for a moment as if considering something, “You know, if you happened to stop by to talk to her, I don’t think she’d smash your nose up like I did. I mean she’d kill me for telling you, but I’d say she doesn’t hate you as much as she pretends to.”

They came to a stop in front of a red and white door that (thankfully) slid open and Xó dumped him on a small medical bed. He watched with a quirked eyebrow as she vibrated on the spot for a moment, glancing at the door with a longing gaze. He released his grip on his nose, “You _can_ leave you know.”

Xó looked at him guiltily, “I’m sorry, I’ve just been thinking about getting to bed since— ”

He waved her off, “No need t’ explain, hope you sleep well.”

She hesitated for a moment before scurrying to the door, “The med droid will be here in a minute, we fixed as many of his circuits as we could.” Just as she was about to open the door she stopped for a moment. Poe cocked his head and watched curiously as she pulled out what looked like an extra key card.

Xó gave him a poignant look and let the card slip out of her hand onto to floor, “Whoops.” And with that, she was gone. He got up from his spot on the bed and picked up the small piece of plastic, examining it with curiosity. Her words from earlier came to mind involuntarily, _if you happened to stop by to talk to her_. He almost laughed, he’d pegged Xó as conniving from when they first met but he might have to reconsider that assessment. If she was trying to be subtle it was failing _spectacularly_.

Poe slipped the card into the pocket of his flight suit, and stood up just as MX floated into view,

“Specimen-344! Excellent to see you again! Although it appears you have been damaged…”

* * *

Alaya almost choked as she woke up, a metallic tang filled her mouth as blood rushed from her nose and flooded down the back of her throat. At first she ran to the fresher without even questioning it, grabbing a handful of tissue and muting the flow before wiping off what she could with the back of her hand. She hadn’t slept well for months, that voice still grating at her and beating at her shields, she supposed this was just an extension of that whole thing.

She’d done everything right though, before bed she’d taken the time to meditate; releasing all her feelings into the force and then bundling it up around her mind as a protective blanket. It had worked well enough up until now, there was no reason that should have changed. Besides this didn’t feel tinged with darkness like her nightmares were, it just… was.

She turned the tap on and let the water get warm before splashing it onto her face. She’d have to change her shirt, blood had dribbled down onto the white fabric and left two large stains that made her feel oddly disturbed. She tried to make a point of not bleeding too often, this just felt like an ominous reminder that she could.

The stream of blood seemed to have stopped, which she guessed was a good thing. At the very least it meant she could tidy up, but before that… she sat cross-legged on the end of her bed and let the force swirl around her. She’d gotten better at meditation since it had become a necessity every night, but it seemed like she wasn’t going to get any answers from it this time. Tendrils brushed against her mind, sharing little glimpses that she didn’t understand. The images that flashed through her mind could have been from anywhere— from anytime really. All but one. An image came into sharp focus, footsteps down a quiet corridor. Her corridor.

Alaya’s eyes snapped open, green irises burning with confusion. _Who—_

A knock.

She got to her feet silently and stared down the door. Whoever was out there wouldn’t like what they found, she’d make sure of that. With a grasping motion, the blaster from her bedside table flew to her hand and she checked its ammo.

Another knock. _What a polite assailant._

Two shots would do it. That’s what Xó had told her when she first learnt how to use the blaster. One to get them down, one to keep them down. She would have taken them too, if not for a familiar voice drifting through the door, “Alaya? You in there?”

She was confused, but she cleared her throat, “Uh yeah. Just one second!” The blaster in her hand felt out of place now, something in her told her she’d never need to use one against Poe— was disgusted that she’d even consider it. She tossed it across the room not even bothering to keep track of where it landed.

She slid the door open and they stood there just looking at each other for a moment, Poe in his ridiculous flight suit and Alaya only in a blood-stained shirt. She started to speak, “Why are you—”

Poe cut her off with a searing kiss, pulling her to his lips and pressing his body against hers as if his life depended on it. For a moment she was in limbo, not quite knowing what was happening or where to put her hands but as his hands settled on her waist Alaya found herself smiling into his lips. She tangled her fingers into the curls at the nape of his neck relishing the way he moaned as she tugged at them.

He pulled back short of breath, his eyes flicking over her face as if trying to commit this moment to memory. His knuckles brushed along the white markings on her cheek in a strangely intimate way that made her shiver. He dropped his face into her neck speaking lowly against her skin, “Xó said I should come visit you.” He nipped at the tender skin and her lekku twitched happily in response. A chuckle rumbled from his chest, “I guess that means that feels good?”

Alaya tugged at the back of his head again this time with a tinge of spite, “Next time Xó decides to wingman me, I’ll tell her to get someone less cocky.” That gripping chuckle was back again and she let her hands drift down his back, memorising how the topography of his muscles felt under her touch. When she reached his hips she dragged him out of the doorway and into the room, pushing him away from her for a moment. As she closed the door she could hear him fumbling with the zipper on his flight suit, and by the time she turned back around he’d managed to pull most of it off.

She almost licked her lips, that baggy orange mess had been covering a white cotton shirt that hugged his pecs and a pair of pants that were almost too tight to be legal. They were probably standard issue but it looked like someone had picked them out just for him. He glanced up at her predatory expression with a lopsided grin, “Are you just going to watch me undress or do you want to join in?”

“I could, but I think you need to catch up first,” she gestured down to her bare legs, and his eyes grazed them idly before she interrupted her with a snap of her fingers, “Hey chop chop. I’m not gonna wait forever.”

His eyes reluctantly left her legs and he flopped back onto the bed. As soon as his pants were off Alaya pounced on him, pushing him down into the mattress and straddling his hips with a soft little growl. She dipped down and pressed a long slow kiss to his lips, enjoying the scrape of his stubble as their tongues danced together. His hand lifted and grabbed her back lekku, stroking up and down its soft expanse savouring how her back arched when his hand brushed the back of her neck.

She came up for air, gasping slightly as her hips inadvertently rolled against his. Alaya took advantage of the temporary space between them to roll her shirt up over her head. Poe’s brown eyes darkened with lust, and his hands began to wander down to her naked back but she swatted them off, “Shirt off first. You’ve gotta keep pace, Dameron.”

The spark of annoyance in his eyes dissipated as she rolled her hips again, “Quickly now…”

He flipped her onto her back, pressing between her legs greedily, “Has anyone ever told you you’re demanding?”

Alaya only laughed and propped herself up onto her elbows to watch as he peeled his shirt off and threw it to the other side of the room. She eyed the smattering of hair across his chest before reaching up to run her fingers over it. The black hair was coarse and slightly ticklish, it wasn’t that she’d never been with someone with hair, it’s just that the people she was with normally were more well-kept. Without warning she pinched one of the strands and pulled it out, causing Poe to yelp, “What was that for!”

“Sorry, I was just curious,” she only looked mildly apologetic, but he forgot about scowling pretty quickly when she placed a chaste kiss where she ripped out the hair. He rolled his eyes and buried his face back in her neck, trailing kisses down her lekku and onto her chest. His attention skimmed over her body from the two white triangles perched on her collar bones like stars against her orange skin to her dark nipples standing at attention as he made his way down to them.

He felt her hands grip his shoulders, but the sharp nails digging into his skin didn’t bother him. _Nothing bacta can’t fix._ His breath ghosted over her and she strained to rise up to meet his lips, begging in all but words. Poe circled around her nipple with his tongue before latching on with a deep suck that elicited a keening moan. He switched to the other breast but kept one hand massaging the neglected one roughly. It fit perfectly in his hand like they were pieces of a puzzle, or gears in some delicate machine. He couldn’t keep his mind from wondering what else would fit perfectly.

Alaya dragged his head back up and nipped his lip before pulling him in for another kiss. With her other hand, she reached down to her underwear, trying to slide them off without breaking contact with Poe without much success. He chuckled into her mouth before letting his hand glide down to her thigh, pulling the underwear down to her ankles where Alaya kicked them off haphazardly. His hand didn’t come back up to her breast, instead dragging up the inside of her thigh with a light touch that made her head swim.

He paused for a moment, “Anything I need to know?”

She looked up at him with a wry smile, “About the hardware? It’s pretty standard, sorry if you’re into Xeno.”

Poe snorted, “I happen to have a wide variety of interests, but I can’t say I’ve ever counted that among them.” With cautious fingers he ventured upwards again, torturously brushing against the side of her thigh. She shuddered but when he finally touched her it was like a revelation.

Alaya sucked in a breath of air, holding it deep in her lungs as his finger slipped into her. A moan broke from her mouth as she remembered how to breathe, he laughed just as breathlessly and pressed a kiss onto her jaw.

He pressed another finger into her and curled them gently inside her. She let out a stuttering breath, “D-deeper, you won’t break me.”

Poe readjusted his arm and thrust again, this time being repaid with a trill that erupted out of her mouth. Now if Poe had lived on Shilli for his formative years that would have made sense, but as it was he grew up on Yavin-4 without the benefit of Togrutan sex-ed. He pulled his arm away and scrambled back, “Kark, I’m so sorry—”

She sat up with an intense glare on her face, “You can’t just leave me high and dry like that!” Alaya pulled him back towards her with a surge of energy, catching him between her legs and latching onto his neck with her lips.

“You’re sure? I don’t wanna…”

She murmured into his shoulder, “I promise you won’t.”

He set back to work but he still seemed nervous so she nipped at his neck with her sharp canines to egg him on. Her efforts would surely leave a mark in the morning, but she really didn’t care right now. Her neck wasn’t exactly spotless either. It was hard to focus with his hand occupied inside her, but she slid her hand down to his briefs.

Poe’s movements lost their rhythm as she wrapped her long finger around him and pumped quickly. He was all steel wrapped in velvet, throbbing under her precise touch. Her thrusts were timed almost exactly with his own, they moved in utter synchrony.

She could tell Poe was getting close, his pleasure echoed through the force and merged with her own in an endless loop of feedback. Whatever connection she had with him was thrumming with energy, barely contained as she leaned back to stare into his eyes, “Poe…”

His breath caught at the sound of his name carried by her breathless voice, he slowed the pumping of his hand instead teasing her clit as her breath quickened. His voice was hard; demanding, “Tell me what you want Aya.”

Her lekku curled and flushed, the charcoal deepening to an inky black. Her eyes met his, bright with pleasure and she managed to gasp out, “You.”

He gave her a lopsided smirk, dragging his thumb in slow circles around her clit, “Come on, you can do better than that.”

Her hips bucked and she reached up to the nape of his neck, hauling his face down to hers, “I want you. All of you. I don’t think you need a step by step guide.”

Poe let out a bark of laughter that she quickly smothered with her lips. Alaya was right of course, he pressed into her with a sharp thrust and he found himself moaning into her mouth. _Pretty standard, my ass_. She fluttered around him as if trying to draw him in, ribbed walls massaged his cock and when her hips moved it was like every thought he’d ever had that wasn’t about her disappeared.

She didn’t fail to take advantage of his daze, flipping him over and holding his wrists onto the bed. Her hips undulated, grinding down onto Poe relentlessly, chasing her high with reckless abandon. He wasn’t about to complain, stars danced behind his eyes, all he could really do was groan. His hands closed into tight fists as her grip on his wrists closed tighter.

Alaya leant down and pressed herself against his chest, letting him thrust into her at an increasing pace. It was almost unbearable, the complete vortex of pleasure that swirled around them. Kriffing Luke Skywalker probably felt it wherever he was. She growled and bit into his collarbone, tasting blood for the second time tonight. Poe hissed below her and pulled her to his mouth, kissing her vigorously; savouring the taste of iron as the sounds of rapid thrusting filled the room.

Her hips suddenly stuttered and she fell lax against him, shivering with the aftershocks of her orgasm. The explosive pleasure she felt couldn’t be contained and it thundered across the connection to Poe, barraging him with waves of pleasure that weren’t his own. With a long groan he pressed deeply inside her and released rope after rope of hot cum.

It took a moment, but Alaya rolled off him and stared at the ceiling in bewilderment. A thin sheen of sweat coated her whole body, she felt sticky and sore and thoroughly used. And she loved it. When she turned her head to Poe he didn’t seem much better.

After a couple of minutes, he turned to her with an exhausted smile, “That was something.” Alaya could only hum in agreement, she’d never been good at pillow talk. He didn’t seem to mind, he only reached out his hand and settled it next to hers in silent invitation. If it were anyone else she wouldn’t have shifted her hand into his and relished in the buzz that washed over her as their skin touched. She wouldn’t have squeezed it and sent him a soft smile. She wouldn’t have tucked her body against his and fell asleep to the rhythm of his heart. But he wasn’t anyone else, he was Poe and Alaya drifted off to sleep cocooned in his embrace.


	11. Chapter 11

If someone asked Poe to choose a perfect moment in his life a few days ago he probably would have chosen the first time he flew with his mother, face pressed against the cockpit watching the world zoom by. If someone asked now, he’d have more difficulty. It was hard to compare between the feeling of Alaya curled against him and his mum guiding his hands to the controls of a fighter for the first time but feeling the soft rise and fall of her body against his chest brought a lot of things into question.

His hand ghosted over her shoulder, as if touching her would make her disappear. Snap and Karé were probably on the verge of tearing this place apart to find him, Poe could only hope that Jess had the good sense to stop them. Sura probably knew exactly why he wasn’t around… or she was busy doing the exact same thing. They’d always had a mutual appreciation for the fairer sex.

There was good reason to shake Alaya awake, for them to get back to their lives but surely there was no harm in just a few more minutes? He sighed and pressed a soft kiss to one of her montrals, before nestling against her again. Alaya shifted next to him, stretching her shoulders with a soft purr, it seemed any illusions he’d had about prolonging this moment were going to be short-lived.

She groaned a little bit and rolled over to look at him with bleary eyes, “Why did you not force me to shower last night?”

He scoffed with a smile, “After my performance? Not sure you’d make it there.”

Alaya’s eyes twinkled in amusement even as she smacked his chest, “Shut up.” There was a comfortable silence as Poe studied her face. White lines cut up her cheeks and skated over her cheekbones to the side of her face, curling back over her eyes into straight lines that came to an end just above her nose. Between them a small triangle pointed down the centre of her face, topped with a white circle— almost like a scoop of ice cream on a cone. A smile pulled at the corners of his mouth, and she returned it sleepily, “What are you grinning about?”

He tapped the marking on her forehead, “It looks like ice cream.”

She sniggered and tapped his forehead in return, “And _you_ look like a wet bantha.”

Maybe she had a point, she wasn’t the only one who needed a shower. He rolled away from her with a laugh, “Shower?”

Alaya sat up and blew out a puff of air, “Together? No. I’m not looking a for a repeat just yet, I have work to do,” She stretched her arms toward the ceiling and shook them loose, “I bet you do too. The war waits for no man.”

Poe followed her with his eyes as she hopped off the bed and padded into the fresher, still stark naked. He closed his eyes and chuckled to himself, a repeat sounded appealing to him but he got her point.

He could hear the shower turn on and he resisted the urge to go watch the water run over her body, even if he’d much rather be doing that than scrounging up the clothes he’d thrown around the room last night. As he picked up each piece he let his mind wander to how they ended up where they were, the memory of her voice cajoling him drifting in and out of focus.

As he went to grab his flight suit the white shirt next to it caught his attention instead. He fingered the soft cotton, it was what Alaya had been wearing last night and he was slightly more concerned by the blood on it when it wasn’t draped over her chest. With a frown, he ambled to the fresher door and rapped on it with his knuckles, “How do dirty clothes get washed around here?”

The sound of rushing water made him strain his ears for her response, “If you need clothes there’s a box of stuff that’s been left behind in the cupboard,” He scrunched up his nose at her offer.

“Ew, I meant more for your shirt. How’d it get blood all over it anyway?”

“I had a nosebleed a bit before you came, no biggie. Just leave it, I’m almost done in here anyway.”

Poe’s frown deepened, _a nosebleed?_ _That she just happened to get around the same time he did? _The shower shut off and Alaya stepped out with a black robe wrapped around her, rubbing a towel over her lekku.

She threw him a puzzled look and snatched her shirt from him as she walked by, “I said to leave it, what’s the matter with you?”

“Oh nothing,” he crossed his arms suddenly feeling combative. Something felt off and he didn’t like not knowing what, “Just that at the same time that your nose mysteriously started bleeding _my_ nose was being broken by Xó.”

Alaya turned to him with a perplexed look on her face, “You’re kidding right? That can’t be a coincidence,” she took in his stance and narrowed her eyes, “You don’t think I have something to do with this?”

“You’re the one with the whole Force nonsense going on! I don’t want anyone pulling my strings.”

There was a livid edge that slipped into his voice and Alaya stepped toward him tentatively, her voice softer than before, “I’ve had a _feeling _for a little while, but I didn’t think it was anything serious. Especially not you bleed, I bleed serious.”

At the dour look on his face, she stepped back again and rubbed her arm anxiously, “Look, I get it. I really do. Being led about by the Force is… frustrating to say the least, but I don’t exactly have a choice in it either.”

“At least you can tell what’s going on, I’m in the dark here Alaya. I don’t know what’s _me_ and what’s not.”

There was a moment where Alaya looked lost for words, what could someone say to that? She sat down on the edge of the bed and picked at the sheets, “When I was little… I used to have these dreams. Nightmares really. And in them I’d do things I wouldn’t ever _want_ to do. It didn’t feel like me but as a kid how are you really meant to know? I thought I was this horrible person.”

Poe eyed her with confusion and she gave a quick smile, “Sorry, I’ll get to the point. I was lucky that my mum caught on pretty quick, she taught me some old tricks to help. Things anyone with a strong mind can pull off. After a while, I got pretty good, and the nightmares went away. If you want… I could teach you?”

He sat down next to her, “And that would fix this?”

She looked uncomfortable at that thought and her hands curled into the sheets “I guess. If you want to fix it, I mean.”

Poe placed a hand onto hers and she looked at him with surprise, “You know if last night’s anything to go by I’d definitely be interested, weird psychic connection or not.”

Alaya smiled faintly and knocked shoulders with Poe, “I can’t believe you.” She sniffed and turned to him with a grin, “You really need to go shower.”

“And here I was thinking we were having a moment.” She scoffed but there was a softness in her eyes that made his heart stumble. He leant in and caught her soft lips in a lingering kiss, cradling her face in his hands. Alaya pushed him away after a few seconds, “Go on, get showering. And if you don’t want me to kiss you again put some clothes on.”

* * *

Alaya read over the report with a frown. She’d sent out scouts mostly as a precautionary measure but what they brought back was worrying. Scans indicated the early signs of First Order activity, at the moment it was only a few terrestrial units but that bunch never did anything by half-measures. Celsor-3 was off the table.

There were many things Alaya hated but being shut down after she’d already done all of the work was close to the top of the list. She’d spent hours working on the prep for Celsor, but all of that was practically useless now. They had to move, especially after the Depallo incident, and now they’d been set back by days. Unless she could take some shortcuts… they might be able to go in a day or two.

She’d done some extra location scouting in the past, and that research could come in handy now. She swiped through her datapad apathetically, browsing the planets she’d rejected in the past. Imoco was a good option, but clients hardly ever appreciated the commute to wild space even if it was the best place to hide their indiscretions. D’Skar could have worked if it hadn’t been for the pre-existing criminal element. As far as she knew Haxion Brood had set up some spice warehouses there and they were never keen on sharing. She had two real options, Daslkehnt or Eos. The almost complete anonymity of Daslkehnt was tempting but Xó did say she didn’t want another dustball. Eos, on the other hand, used to be home to Trade Federation foundries back in the Clone Wars, and had pretty much been abandoned since. It could work, she’d only ruled it out last time on account of there being somewhere closer to move to, and if she had the time she could even check out the old factories. There had to be goodies in there that scavengers hadn’t got to quite yet.

There was a niggling voice at the back of her mind that told her that she’d only be 2 regions away from D’Qar, with only a quick trip through hyperspace... Alaya let out a huff. Eos had its downsides too, and Alaya wasn’t one to overlook risk for a guy. _Even an incredibly attractive, daring, determined_…

She pinched herself to shut down that line of thought. Her brain was a traitor and if she had to listen to it espouse one more line about Poe she would scream. With a deep breath Alaya dove back into her work; she needed to estimate new fuel costs, find suppliers willing to travel to Eos, organise secure communications, get the crew to prep the engines and all that on top of everyday operations.

Hours of typing left her with aching fingers and a throb building in the base of her montrals, but she got most of her work done. Most, was the key word there but it was enough for today, _I really didn’t get enough sleep to be working this hard._

Which is why when the first call came through on her comm she ignored it. Whatever was happening could be handled by any one of the people she hired for that exact purpose. The second time it rang she was slightly more concerned.

She saved the document she was working on and tapped the small device on the desk. Picking up meant more work. More work meant more time between her and hitting the hay.

Alaya groaned and rubbed her face, “Yup, you’ve got me. What’s up?”

An anxious voice spilled through the comm, “Ma’am, we’re picking up what looks like a First Order star destroyer approaching, what do we do?”

* * *

Poe had been ready to spend an inordinate amount of time convincing his friends to spend just one night, but apparently most of them were enjoying the extended vacation. They’d been pulled off leave for this job and one look at how Karé and Snap were cuddling up told Poe that they were happy to enjoy this time away.

That eagerness really came to bite him in the ass, now sirens were blaring and Poe was trying to force his way through a panicked crowd to find someone who knew what was happening, “Can you nerf-herders move?” They were all too lost in the rush of the situation to care about his insults, but they felt good to say.

He’d ordered his squad to their ships when the chaos first started but he didn’t want to leave just yet. Something told him Alaya and Xó weren’t going to disrupt their entire business for a small commotion, whatever was happening was big. As he pushed through the crowd it became pretty clear that this wasn’t the place to get answers, everyone here was just as lost as he was. He couldn’t even see any staff around.

“Poe?” Alaya’s voice tumbled through his head and Poe whipped around trying to spot her in the throng of people, “Poe? Where are you?”

She was tall, orange and practically wearing a headdress at all times but he couldn’t see a thing. A thrumming at the base of his skull started to make itself known and Poe yelled into the crowd, “Alaya? What’s going on?”

“Poe, you have to listen to me. Get out of here. Now. It’s… them.” There was a sense of finality to that that Poe didn’t appreciate.

He spun around again looking for her, “Where are you Aya? I can— We can help!”

A wave of comfort washed over him, but it felt artificial and he realised what was happening, “No, no, no— don’t use that shit on me. I’m coming up to you now.”

“Poe. Please. 4 X-wings can’t do anything against a star destroyer. I need you to leave or they’ll have an easy excuse to blow us to bits. I’m handling this.”

He felt an immense need to punch something, preferably whoever who was at the helm of that destroyer but some rational part of him won out. She was right, the best thing he could do right now was get his squad out of here and he hated it, “You comm me the moment this is over, you hear me?”

“Loud and clear, Flyboy. Loud and clear.” The connection cut out leaving a hole where it had been. He wasn’t going to let them find the Resistance here if he could help it. He could do that much for her. He forced his way against the crowd until he made his way to an open corridor.

His wrist came up to his mouth and he shouted into the comm, “Okay we’re leaving now guys, we have about 5 minutes to get out of here before we get shot up by the First Order. Sura you’re taking Black One— I’m not having you fly that junk as an escape vehicle.”

He didn’t have time to listen to the response to that, instead, he sprinted to the hangar, skidding around corners and dodging the occasional confused straggler. By the time he got to the hangar all the X-wings had vanished, they had co-ords for a regroup point that they were surely already on the way to. He climbed into the transport but Poe didn’t head to the cockpit. He thundered into the small room intended for the Senator and rifled through a small box of clothes. His squad knew how to follow orders, that was for damn sure, too bad he didn’t.

* * *

Alaya walked with an iron posture, hands clasped behind her back and her face set in a mask that hid the uncertainty that was bolting through her body. She should have been more vigilant, should have moved weeks ago, should have kept her finger on the pulse and known this was all coming. Now she was on the back foot with no defence and a limited amount of excuses to pull out of her ass. She swallowed roughly and kept her gaze level, even if that were true the First Order didn’t need to know it. There was a lot the First Order didn’t need to know.

Xó fell into step beside her, “What’s the plan?”

Alaya licked her lips, “I don’t know. Talk. Stall for time. Invite them for a few drinks. I have no idea.”

Xó raised her chin defiantly, “If there’s anything I can do, it’s talk.”

They stopped walking for a second and Alaya placed a hand on her friend’s shoulder, “If this goes south, I’m going to need you to go to my office. Everything you’ll need is on my desk.”

“I’m not sure I like where you’re going with this Aya.”

Alaya smiled reassuringly, “It won’t go south, it’s just a precaution. I promise.”

Those words left a sour taste in her mouth. Maybe she already knew it was a lie.

They kept walking but Xó kept looking down to Alaya’s empty belt, feeling the absence of what could be their best defence. Of course she’d considered it, she wasn’t stupid, but there would be consequences to making that part of herself known. Bigger consequences than a single First Order destroyer with some low-level officer at the helm. Everyone knew what happened at the Academy.

Her musing was brought to a halt by Xó, “What happened to our guests?”

“I put out the word that there was a fire and everyone needed to get to their rooms. Everyone without one is locked up in the bar.”

Xó threw her an unimpressed look, “You know that’s not what I meant.”

Alaya cleared her throat, “I let them know it was in everyone’s best interests for them to leave.”

Xó sighed, “Probably a good idea, but those X-wings could have come in handy.”

“This isn’t something we’re going to win head to head Xó, we’re going to have to rely on our _feminine wiles_.”

The snort Xó replied with wasn’t very encouraging, “My feminine wiles maybe, you’re still figuring out how to get a guy to like you.” Alaya’s didn’t reply but she raised her eyebrows, and Xó’s jaw dropped, “I know we’re in a very serious situation right now, but we are talking about this later.”

Despite everything Alaya laughed, “Don’t act surprised, I know you had a hand in it.”

Xó hummed noncommittally, “Perhaps I did. But I just provided means, you two sorted out motive all on your own.”

Alaya rolled her eyes, “I’m taking away your collection of true-crime holodramas after this, you’re getting way too into them.” She’d said _after this_ so easily, without even thinking about it. As if _after this_ was guaranteed.

A rumble passed under their feet and Alaya reorganised her face back into its passive mask, “We need to get going. They’ve docked.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plans are laid, discussions are had

“Admiral Toulok, it’s been so long since you’ve visited! If you’d called ahead we would have made sure your favourite dancers were scheduled on,” Alaya smiled warmly and waved her hand nonchalantly, “No matter, Xó could you send a memo asking if they’re free? And check if Roxxi is around, if I remember correctly the Admiral had quite a bit of fun with her.”

The Admiral’s pale face burned red and his stormtroopers shuffled awkwardly behind him as Xó chirped happily, “Of course, and should I organise for his suite to be vacated? The other rooms don’t have the, uh, special equipment he requested.”

Toulok spoke through gritted teeth, “That will _not_ be necessary, this is not a social visit,” he took in a calming breath, “We have reason to believe that your organisation has not followed the terms of neutrality you agreed to with our Order. Would you like to explain this?”

Xó pouted, “Now that doesn’t sound like us, does it Alaya?”

Alaya hummed, “No not at all. Being destroyed by the First Order wouldn’t be a very good business move. Is it possible you’re confused? If it’s Maz you’re after she’s on Takodona, feel free to smite her, she’s never liked us.”

The atmosphere grew tense as Toulok glowered at the pair of women, “Enough games. If you will not cooperate with me I’m afraid this space station will find itself under new management. Now, what information do you have regarding the Resistance?”

“I think that’s more your area Xó? What have you heard from your girls?”

“Well, I’m glad you asked really,” Xó pulled out a datapad and scrolled through it seemingly unconcerned with the red-faced man towering over her, “There was a rumour that they were recruiting over in the mid rim, some pilot crashed over Raxus… oh, this one’s interesting—apparently General Organa herself was spotted riding a _varactyl_ in a race on Upatu.... you look stressed, is this not useful?”

“If you will not talk you will be made to talk.”

Alaya stepped forward protectively, spreading her hands in a placating gesture, “You misunderstand, you’re asking for information that we don’t have. We haven’t been accepting customers from the Resistance or First Order while we work through... " She paused for a quick moment, trying to find a good enough reason to calm the Admiral, "...security issues. You know what the Resistance is like, they were always starting fights, hurling insults. The usual. We're just trying to find some better bouncers.”

The Admiral’s back straightened with regained confidence, “That is reassuring to hear. We will provide troops to assist with the concern.”

Xó shuffled her feet slightly, occupation was functionally the same as being run by the First Order. Alaya tried to loosen her shoulders, “While we appreciate the—”

“You do not have the authority to argue against this. I will leave a small battalion here and a commanding officer to oversee your operations.”

Alaya bit the inside of her cheek but smiled, “Of course Admiral Touluk. I only wished to avoid a drain on your resources. Xó would you go to my office and grab me my datapad so we can make this official?” There was a moment of silence as Xó stood stock still, staring at the floor intently. Alaya placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, “Xó. Office, now please.”

Xó took a shaky breath, but she walked away without protesting. Each step that echoed through the hallway shook Alaya’s resolve but she kept an easy smile on her face, “In the meantime, we should discuss this further aboard your ship. I’d like to meet this officer of yours,” she paused and lowered her voice a little, “…and maybe we can catch up too.”

She felt slightly sick at the leer he was giving her but she bit her bottom lip and giggled. She was far from unaware of his desires, in the past he’d made a point to hire the Tog dancers, he’d even had the audacity to ask if she would dance for him. If this is what she had to do… well, she would do it. His arm slithered around her waist and she squeezed her eyes closed for a moment before plastering on a bright smile and walking onto his ship.

****

Poe peered around a corner, scanning the hallway cautiously. Even if he didn’t look the part of rebel right now running into the wrong person could spell disaster. He didn’t really have a plan, but he still had a keycard to access the upper levels and a knack for improvisation. If he could get up there he could… do something.

He scurried through the corridor, if he remembered correctly the lift should be around here somewhere, nestled out of the way of prying customers and hopefully stormtroopers too. He’d hadn’t seen a single one so far and he didn’t really know if that was a good sign or not, either way, he had a blaster tucked into the back of his pants ready to go at the slightest whiff of trouble.

Although thinking about it now, keeping the safety off while he crept around may not have been his best idea. He shuddered a little bit at the thought of accidentally shooting himself in the ass, but he had bigger things to worry about right now. Like the pair of troopers milling about in front of the lift he needed to use.

The soldier in him itched for the reassurance of his blaster in his hand, but he had told Alaya they wouldn’t find the Resistance here. Xó had critiqued his ability to blend in before, but that had been in a room full of socialites this was two stormtroopers who had the social capability of a gundark. Poe cracked his neck and put on his best impression of one of the drunk idiots he’d come across down in the bar.

“Excuse me, Sir—”

Poe scoffed as the stormtrooper tried to talk and put on a haughty voice, “You are not excused. I’ve been trying to get to my room for hours now and not a single one of you grunts has seen fit to help me,” The pair looked at each other confused and Poe scowled at them, “I don’t think anyone pays you to stand around. One of you escort me to level 6 immediately or I will have no qualms about reporting you to your superiors.”

That seemed to do the trick, troopers were suckers for the hierarchy. The one on the left called the elevator in a rush, “Of course sir, we meant no disrespect.”

The doors slid open with a hiss and Poe had to press down a smirk, “Well finally I’m getting some good service. Congratulations on performing the bare minimum, now I believe you were taking me to level 6?”

He stepped into the elevator and the two troopers followed him reluctantly. That wasn’t their first mistake but it would be their last. As soon as the doors pulled shut Poe pulled out his blaster.

The elevator chimed happily as it arrived at level 6 opening to reveal Poe pulling on one of the stormtroopers buckets. It didn’t fit quite right and he didn’t know how they even aimed with such a limited field of vision but it would do for now. He checked himself quickly in the mirror of the elevator, examining the plasteel armour on his body. It wasn't a great look on him, but he'd worn worse; and it would work perfectly as a disguise. Honestly, if he kept doing this well he would have to ask Leia to put him on some espionage assignments. _Would whistling be too over the top?_

Poe didn’t have much in the way of a plan but the control room would be a good place to start. He knew for a fact the comms array there was good enough to contact the Resistance, if he could get a message to them he might be able to convince Leia to send a counter-strike. 4 X-Wings may have been useless but a fleet of bombers wouldn't be.

****

Xó hurried through the halls with a datapad hugged to her chest protectively. Alaya’s datapad to be exact. When she first flipped through it, she was confused, she’d assumed Alaya had left some sort of plan. It took her a moment to realise that the notes about the hyperspace route, from fuel calculations to engine specifications, was the plan.

She knew about jumping to hyperspace in a fighter. In a transport, a freighter, any number of ships. A space station was out of her depth, especially with the First Order ship still clinging to them like a leech. But Xó hadn’t worked as hard as she had to build this place from the ground up to let it get taken away by some smarmy admiral, and this half-baked nonsense was a start.

If this was going to work at all she had to start prepping the engines and get the hyperdrive warmed up sooner rather than later, and the navicomputer would need some help too. She couldn't take too long, as she rushed through the hallways she could already see troopers milling about as if they owned the place and it took all the self-restraint that her career in customer service had given her to remind them who exactly owned the place. She thought that the control room would at least be immune to their wanderings but apparently not. 

“What _exactly _do you think you’re doing?” The stormtrooper messing with the communications panel only had a moment to look at the furious Twi’lek storming towards them before they were shoved to the ground. _So much for elite training. _

She didn’t have her blaster on her, but she supposed their’s would do. She scooped the unfamiliar gun into her arms and clicked off the safety as the trooper tried to scramble to their feet pleading in a modulated voice, “Wait, wait, don’t shoot!”

Xó rolled her eyes, “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t.”

The trooper tugged at their helmet, revealing a mop of unruly curls and a very familiar face, “Xó! It’s me!”

Xó lowered her blaster with an incredulous expression, “You’re kidding me.”

Poe smiled hesitantly, “So you’re not gonna shoot me?”

She snorted amiably, “Depends on whether you explain why the hell you’re still here. Alaya said—”

“That I’d left? I did sorta imply that I did, but I’m not just going to leave you two to deal with this mess,” She sighed and offered him a hand. He took it thankfully and hauled himself to his feet, “I was planning on signalling the fleet, getting some assistance. She said 4 X-wings wouldn’t help, but I bet a couple of bombers would.”

He didn’t really expect her to scowl at that, “That was your entire plan?”

Poe rubbed the back of his neck feeling slightly embarrassed, “I didn’t exactly have all the time in the world to come up with it… but it’s not that bad, you guys _could_ do with some firepower.”

“And what do you think the First Order would think of a heavily encrypted transmission being sent from us? They wouldn’t stop to ask questions, they’d know it’s going to the resistance. They aren’t stupid. If by some miracle they don’t kill us straight away there’s no way they don’t arrest us, call for backup and be ready to obliterate what little reinforcements you managed to get. Your plan sucks.”

Poe looked halfway between defensive and resigned, and she offered him an apologetic look, “If it makes you feel better, I don’t have anything that would turn out better. I think Alaya wanted me to put us into hyperspace, head to our next location. She left all this planning out for me but I don’t think I can do it with the destroyer still attached. Well, I don’t know if I can do it at all but—”

“I’ll get the destroyer off.”

Xó floundered for a moment, “You’ll what?” He looked entirely serious. Maybe even a little bit excited. In this moment Xó could tell why the Resistance liked him so much, any opportunity to stick it to the First Order made him practically glow with enthusiasm.

“I’ll detach their ship so you can get into hyperspace. Alaya had the right idea, they won’t be able to track you once you’re gone.”

“I— How exactly do you plan to do that? You can’t just walk up to them and tell them to kriff off.”

Poe grinned and picked up the helmet he’d abandoned on the ground, “This thing will come in handy, they won’t know what hit ‘em.”

“I literally just ripped apart your last half-assed plan, you _have_ to come up with something better than that.”

“Improvisation is my strong suit.”

Xó snapped at him, “You can improvise when it’s your entire existence under threat.”

She let out a sharp exhale and squeezed her eyes shut but she could still feel Poe’s eyes on her, “Sorry—”

“No, don’t apologise. You’re right.”

She cracked an eye open and glanced over at Poe. He’d deflated into himself, like the world’s saddest armour-plated balloon.

A tense silence blossomed between them. All she wanted to do was head back behind the bar and pretend none of this was happening, all of this was so outside her comfort zone it was ridiculous. If Alaya were here she would have clicked her tongue and told her that when she signed up to be part of the Resistance she should have expected this. A return to the gung-ho days of jetting around the galaxy, before they’d settled down. A small part of Xó even hoped for it, back when Poe had first turned up in her bar.

That part of her was quiet now, smothered in the guilt of potentially losing her home, her job and her closest friend. Ironically, now was the time where she probably needed that reckless streak.

She rubbed her temples, “Well we’ve already got the basics. Send you in, I get everything ready here, one thing leads to another and we’re home free. We just need to refine some details.”

Poe ran a hand through his curls, mussing them more than the helmet already had, “A trooper doesn’t have the clearance to release the docking clamps, I’ll have to find an officer or something.”

Xó hummed, “I know a few of the officers from their… exploits here. None of them will help you without express orders from the Admiral. If the First Order is good at anything it’s blind loyalty.”

“So I get this Admiral to issue the order?”

She stared at him with disbelief. Poe seemed to see everything as black and white, do or do not. Yes, getting the Admiral to just say ‘_Alright boys we’re leaving_’ would be helpful but that wouldn’t just happen.

“It's not that easy. And whatever little scheme you’ve got running around in there is destined to fail.”

He shook his head with a self-assured smile, “You don’t know what my scheme is yet.” He looked at her expectantly but she only raised an eyebrow at him, “Most people would take that opportunity to ask me about the scheme but don’t worry, I’ll tell you anyway. Most of the First Order uses these stupid little data-pads to communicate, right? So if I get my hands on the Admiral’s, I can type out one little message and we’ll be good to go.”

Xó felt a little bit of scepticism drain away, that wasn’t completely unreasonable. Poe’s eyes sparkled, and she bit her lip thoughtfully, “I can get behind that. You’ll have to find Alaya first, there’s no point in all of this if we just leave her behind.”

Poe’s thick brows pushed together, “You think I’d do that?”

She shrugged, “Maybe,” a grin spread across her face, “but given the events of last night, I’d lean towards… no?” She let out a barking laugh as a flush swept across his cheekbones, “If you get flustered that easily you’re not gonna stand a chance.”

“With Alaya or the First Order?”

“Both.” Xó clicked her tongue as she thought, "The Admiral is under the impression that I'm organising paperwork for a fruitful partnership between us and the First Order if I send you along with some bogus documents you might even get taken straight to him. And I'm willing to bet she'll be with him. With some luck, you get the data-pad and Alaya in one fell swoop."

"That would be convenient, but luck's hasn't exactly proven to be my best friend lately."

"Well fortunately for you, Alaya and I have a pretty good track record." She took the helmet from his arms and shoved it down onto his head, “Go get ‘em tiger.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aha, what if I posted super late because I had writer's block? Aha just kidding.... unless?
> 
> But seriously I don't have an actual schedule or anything but sorry this is late, and also sorry its kind of subpar. Writing it felt like when you run in a dream and everything is super molasses-y if that makes sense. Hopefully I pull it together for the next chapter!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had this done for about a week but I didn't super love it, but also that's just cause I'm mega insecure so I'm posting it anyway

She sipped her drink slowly, letting only the smallest bit of rum into her mouth as she smiled tightly at the Admiral. It was a shame really, the rum was great, but she needed her wits about her at the moment, especially after he’d tried to run his clammy hands up her thigh for the third time tonight.

The Admiral moved his hand from her thigh up to the side of her lekku, “Once we finalise our arrangement, you’ll be nice and secure under our wing. That’s not without benefits…” His breath was hot and its sour stench made her nose twitch, but he either didn’t notice or didn’t care. She shifted away slightly, smiling tensely as he ran a finger down her neck, “You won’t be forced to mingle with such ruffians anymore, leaving all these marks on you.”

He was referring to the hickeys dusting her neck, memories of a markedly better romantic experience. Alaya turned her head away to try to take another shallow sip of her glass, but his fingers caught her chin.

If it were anybody else who did that, they wouldn’t have fingers for long, but she tightened her jaw to stop herself from snapping at his hand. She spoke through her gritted teeth, “You’re very direct Admiral.”

He lifted her chin so she was looking him in his pallid blue eyes, “I find that it is best to be direct in a partnership,” His grip tightened slightly, the leather of his gloves pressing into her jaw, “the question is whether you’re willing to reciprocate?”

That could have any number of meanings, but Alaya wasn't naive enough to pretend that it was anything but a threat. A hint of fear flashed through her eyes and he chuckled darkly, “My problem is I’m not entirely convinced by the little story you tried to feed me. But I’m fond of you, and your little friend too. I may be willing to absolve you of… _harsh_ punishment if you’re direct with me now.”

Alaya wasn’t perfect. She couldn’t deny that a part of her urged to comply, to wipe her hands of the Resistance and forget it ever happened. There wasn’t much incentive to stay, only a war that promised to be long and bloody. With a wave of his hand this man, no matter how vile, could restore her former lifestyle. The Admiral still had her chin in his hand, watching her closely with his lips curling into a smug half-smile, as if he’d already won.

That in itself was enough to shove that urge down.

She kept her voice level and her eyes locked on his, “I still don’t know what you’re talking about. We’ve had—”

“Security issues. I told you I don’t believe you. I’ll give you one more chance.”

A moment passed. And then another. Acting defiant at the moment was probably the worst possible idea, but she couldn’t keep the hardness from her eyes. “I don’t know anything.”

He threw her chin aside with disgust. “Very well.”

She saw the slap coming before she felt it. His arm arced towards her face and collided with her cheek with a resounding _thwap_. “You think you’re so clever, don’t you? You’re expendable. A resource we can use, or that we can replace.”

The malice in his voice made her glare up at him as she cradled her cheek. She spat at his feet, “You think you’re any different? Half the people below you are probably clawing to take your position, and if a single one of them showed even a hint more aptitude for whatever it is you even do – you’d be put out to pasture.”

She was ready for the slap this time and she caught his hand just an inch away from her face. He tried to wrench his hand away but she tightened her grip, rising out of her chair until she was looking down on his pathetic attempts to get free. A satisfying crunch made her lip curl up in pleasure as she twisted his wrist at a peculiar angle.

“Do you think this will go unpunished?” He hissed at her.

She should have let go, apologised, asked for forgiveness. She didn’t. She could have even overpowered him, escaped into the ship and try to find another way to save her cantina. Instead, she relished in the bursts of pain that flashed in the force as the Admiral grunted. Her grip tightened and her nails began to dig into his skin, letting small trails of blood trace their way down his pale skin. “That’s probably why you came here in the first place. You needed a little reputation boost, so you came to pull us back into line,” As she spoke a bone-chilling edge crept into her voice, a harsh contrast to her usual playful banter.

With a tug she pulled him closer and leant down to whisper into his ear, “I wonder what will happen when you tell them you couldn’t,” she hummed softly, “Maybe I should do you a favour and put you out of your misery.”

It was his turn to look scared, his pupils dilated and she could feel his heart beating frenetically under her grip. It felt _good _to hold his life in the palm of her hands, if she really wanted to she could just…

She didn’t have the chance to consider what she could do, the door slid open and the Admiral let a slow smirk pull across his face. She was unarmed, on a ship full of enemies and had just threatened the commanding officer. She blinked twice at the trooper in the doorway and slowly released her grip on his wrist but the damage had already been done.

“Trooper, arrest this _savage_ immediately. Take it to the brig for interrogation, not only is it withholding important information regarding the Resistance, it dared to try and attack me.”

Whatever restraint she found within herself a moment ago slipped and she practically growled at him, "It? You've got to be kidding me. Like 10 minutes ago you were trying to get into my pants."

An odd feeling rolled through her as she said that but she brushed it away. She had half a mind to scalp this idiot but she glanced warily back at the trooper. She didn't exactly want to get herself shot. But the trooper was just standing in the doorway, unreadable behind their mask, but curiously not making any move to arrest her. Alaya cocked her head, not many troopers would wait this long to carry out a direct order; either he was defective or stupid.

“Did your standards for training go down since I last saw you? I think you’ve got a dud on your hands Admiral.”

He looked like an angry tooka, with his hands balled at his sides and a petulant frown reddening his face, “Trooper I said—”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it,” The modulated voice sounded odd in such a flippant tone, and Alaya snorted. Whoever this was had some lip to them, which was amusing to say the least. If the universe was condemning her to rot in a tiny First Order cell for the rest of her (assuredly short) life, at least it was kind enough to send some entertainment beforehand. She picked up her discarded glass and finished what was left in one quick gulp. And there it was again. A strange feeling, that was decidedly not her own, an almost fond burst of amusement.

Her eyes narrowed and she gnawed on the inside of her cheek uncertainly. Skimming the surface of someone's mind wasn't unfamiliar to her, a trait she'd picked up from her mum, but she'd never done it accidentally and certainly not without some degree of focus. Well, that was excluding-- 

_That idiot. That absolute kriffing idiot. _She couldn’t stop a surprised breath from escaping her and her eyes from widening. What exactly did he think he was doing? She told him to _leave_. But no, of course she should have expected some hair-brained scheme to come after some girl he'd slept with once.

She couldn’t deny that she was a bit grateful, she’d been ready to accept her fate but with Poe here now there were more options open. One of them being finding out exactly what was going on. Alaya steadied herself on the side of her chair, letting it support her body as she extended herself outwards. Doing this was draining, and in all honesty, she didn’t know if she was doing it right but she didn't exactly have an instruction manual. Instinct guided her to latch onto a thread that ran between her and Poe, and following it until she reached somewhere that felt distinctly Poe. She was split between herself and him, and her body swayed a little without her permission. Her fingers dug into the cloth of the seat as her focus oscillated, she didn’t have much time before it became obvious she was acting odd.

“Poe.” 

Even that one word made her head swim. She’d never appreciated the Admiral’s single-mindedness before but now that he was distracted it was useful. Reaching out to Poe had been easier last time when she could just sit down and clear her mind, but now she probably looked like she had drunk 17 bottles of Corellian whiskey. 

“How’s it going?” Alaya watched with annoyed disbelief as Poe replied without even flinching, even continuing to bicker with the Admiral despite the intrusion. _That's so not fair._ Apparently her annoyance carried over to him and he piped up again, “Jeez okay, no thanks for coming to rescue you?”

She took a deep breath and pulled at the Force around her for support. A warm flow of energy helped her stand a little straighter, and she was a little less strained when she spoke again, "Sorry, this is difficult. What's the plan here?"

Memories that weren't her own came to mind, flashes of a discussion with Xó came to mind. A datapad. The Admiral’s datapad to be exact. She’d seen it earlier tucked under his arm as he led her here. Surely it was lying around somewhere…

She snapped back into herself and she saw Poe stumble a little as she withdrew. The Admiral took that moment of weakness to cut in;

“Enough! Where is your superior?” His voice was starting to rise enough to draw attention from anyone who might pass by, “I want more troopers here—”

If all they needed was that data pad, the Admiral was no longer necessary to keep around. Especially not if he kept yelling so much. Adrenaline was already coursing through her, tightening her muscles and sharpening her focus. In one swift movement Alaya slipped behind him and clamped a hand over his mouth. A few muffled yells escaped him but she wasn’t deterred, she brought two fingers to his temple— pouring energy against him as he struggled. She couldn’t hold back a grunt, messing with the 'mental' side of the force had always required more effort and this was the third time today she’d had to do it. Even so, his mind was weak, and it only took a moment before he crumpled to the ground, completely unconscious.

Poe hissed at her, “_What_ are you doing?”

“Don’t just stand there, close the door idiot!”

He paused for a moment, but he complied and shut the door before pulling off his helmet with exasperation, “Alaya, I had a whole plan—”

“You stood there in the doorway for five minutes getting yelled at, that’s hardly a plan,” She slipped her arms under Toulok’s shoulders and started to drag him to the lounge, “Can you help me?’

Poe grabbed his feet and helped her lift him, but continued to grumble, “Well if you hadn’t pissed him off first, things would have gone better,” Together they pulled his limp body onto the couch and Alaya started to position him as if he’d passed out. She poured a glass of rum and tipped it onto the floor as if he’d dropped it when he fell asleep and placed the bottle into his other hand. Poe watched her set-up the scene with interest, “What did you do to him anyway?”

She stepped back and admired her work for a moment before looking back at Poe, “Uh, force nonsense I guess. If I was in practice, I could make him forget this even happened but he’s just knocked out at the moment.”

He didn’t say it but Alaya could feel a wave of apprehension rolling off him. Poe’s distrust wasn’t entirely unfounded, she’d heard myths about rogue force users before- people who terrorised entire colonies with terrible sorcery, but she’d had the luxury of knowing they weren’t true. At least they hadn't been until rumours of Kylo Ren and his Knights started cropping up. She could say something, reassure him somehow, but now really wasn’t the time to discuss it, “The data-pad should be around him somewhere, he had it with him when we got here.”

She turned to go look for it but Poe caught her arm. She looked down at his hand and then up to his face, his eyes were soft and he pulled her into a warm hug. Apparently he didn’t share her priorities. His plasteel armour dug into her skin but she wrapped her arms around him anyway and tightened the embrace. He tucked his chin onto her shoulder and mumbled against her montral, “Sorry I didn’t get here sooner.”

She pulled away and looked at him with confusion, that wasn’t what she was expecting, “I told you to leave. I didn’t expect you here at all.” A frown pulled at the corners of her mouth briefly, “You should have left. If they find you—”

He waved her off, “You’d do the same thing for me, right?” 

It only took a moment for her to realise that, yeah, she would. If Poe noticed how troubled that made her feel he didn’t say anything about it, just turned away with a reassuring smile and went to go scour the room for the data-pad.

* * *

He could feel Alaya looking over his shoulder as he typed, silently critiquing his message. “If you’ve got something to say, spit it out.”

She snorted, “It just doesn’t sound like something he’d say,” she tapped the screen pointedly, “_We’ve finished up everything we needed to do, _sounds like something a hooker would say when she goes home for the night. He’d be more grandiose, something like; _The First Order has achieved its goals with efficiency and effectiveness, and as such we no longer need to provide our generous aid to this community._”

Poe smiled up at her, “You know that impression is scarily good? You should be a First Order propaganda girl.”

“They don’t hire non-humans, but a girl can dream,” Her tone was airy and she examined her nails casually. A groan drifted over from the couch and a frown tugged at her lips, “We should probably hurry this up a little Poe.”

“I’m almost done, calm down. Can’t you just knock him out again anyway?”

A twang of pain came from his shoulder as Alaya flicked him spitefully, “I’m not an unlimited well of knockout juice. It takes energy to do that sort of stuff and I wasted it all on trying to talk to you.”

“Talking to me is never a waste Pumpkin,” He dodged the hit she aimed at the back of his head.

“You’re insufferable.”

Poe let a smug smile tug at his lips, the way she said that made it clear she didn’t believe it. He threw the datapad at her and she caught it easily, “Check that out, see if it meets your standards.” Her eyebrows quirked as she skimmed over his work, but she passed it back with a nod.

“If this works the First Order seriously needs to re-evaluate its security.”

He tutted, “Now don’t go telling them that, this is working well for us.”

Alaya pursed her lips, “We’ll see.”


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even the best-laid plans often go awry, and I think we can all admit this one wasn't the best

The glass should have felt cold as she pressed her hands up against it but all she could feel was the way her chest was convulsing as she tried to suck in a breath. Somewhere behind her Poe was struggling with a joystick, trying to keep them from careening to the ground in a massive fireball but that felt like it was happening a million miles away. Her focus was locked on the cloud of rubble drifting where the Waystation used to be.

She didn’t see exactly where the barrage of cannon-fire had hit but the amount of rubble was large enough to say that some serious damage had been done. She had personal experience with hyperspace in a damaged ship, and it wasn’t good. Even if Xó had tried to stop the hyperdrive, the space station had disappeared into the stars all the same. All she could hope for now was that the star destroyer didn’t turn its cannons on them.

As they hit the atmosphere the escape pod shook dangerously and the porthole was covered with tails of flame that blocked her view of the wreckage. Her lip trembled as her mind raced over every mistake she’d made leading up to this karked up chain of events. There were so many things she could have—

“Alaya I need you to cut it out!” Poe’s voice sliced into her and she whipped round to him with an affronted scowl.

“Cut it out? You insensitive, blathering—”

He snapped back angrily without even looking at her, “I can’t fly this thing with you in my head feeling sorry for yourself! So, cut it out.” She felt her nails dig into the palm of her hands as she clenched them into tight fists, but her righteous reply was stifled by a yelp as the pod rattled fiercely, “If you don’t sit down, you’re going to get yourself hurt.”

“Don’t tell me what to do.” She sounded haughty, but even as she said it she was settling into one of the chairs and strapping herself in. She may be obstinate but that didn’t mean she was stupid.

Poe grunted as he struggled with the joystick, from what Alaya could see if they didn’t change course soon they’d be crashing into a deep ravine that stretched across the planet's surface like an open wound. That would just be the cherry on top of this mess, being stuck underground and slowly starving to death.

“You’ve got this right?” He didn’t reply. “Poe, please tell me we aren’t going to crash into that place.”

“The flaps are stuck, I can’t direct us without using the thrusters.” Poe didn’t sound frantic per se, but his voice was tight and strained.

“So use the thrusters!” She snapped.

“If I use the thrusters now, we crash into that planet at terminal velocity! I have to wait until we’re closer to the surface.”

Alaya looked through the front viewport with wide eyes. The ground was already rushing up to meet them, “How much closer can we get?”

“You can criticise my flying when we aren’t an inch away from dying.”

She could have come up with some retort, but she didn’t want her last words to be something spiteful even if the only other person who heard them was dead too. Instead, she closed her eyes and gripped the straps holding her to her seat with tight fists, trying to bring her racing mind back under control. Grief, guilt and anger all swirled dangerously around her. She could see why it would be distracting.

With a deep breath, she started to bring each thought to heel, not releasing them like she had been taught to but caging them. The next time she came across the First Order she’d have nothing to lose and she planned to make use of each inch of pain they'd caused her.

But for now, those thoughts were free to pound against her shielding like petulant children, contained in the deeper recesses of her mind where Poe couldn't see. When she opened her eyes Poe seemed less tense.

Now that they were closer to the surface she could see blue water glistening in shallow lakes, peppered with red vegetation like little bursts of fire across the white and blue planet. She knew from her research that almost the entire planet was a collection of these coral plateaus, shallow seas that covered up what had once been the planets actual crust. They were just unlucky enough to find the one spot that lead directly into the bowels of the planet.

Alaya watched as Poe slammed a lever down but nothing happened. Poe looked back at her in alarm; that was clearly meant to do something. The First Order needed some better engineers, but they wouldn’t live to tell them that. That was unless…

She ripped herself free of her harness and pulled herself towards the front of the pod, straining against the inertia that pushed her backwards. Poe’s yelling reached her montrals easily enough but she ignored him, she needed to focus. She hadn’t dared to try something so extreme with the Force since she’d woken up from that godforsaken coma, but if there was any time to try it was now. She imagined a fist clamping around their pod and she was rewarded with a shudder. She needed to bring them to a halt somehow.

As she pulled against the pod with the Force she could almost swear she heard that chilling laughter mocking her, _You’re not strong enough girl. Let me in. _It was right, they’d slowed down but not enough to stop them smashing against the face of the planet. Exhaustion was already set into her bones from earlier and she didn’t have time to hesitate, if this is how this had to happen so be it.

She went to let down her shielding, but something slipped into her hand and she looked down quickly. Poe’s hand was settled into hers like an anchor and a fresh wave of energy rolled over her. With a yell, she threw out her free hand as the canyon swallowed them whole.

* * *

Poe sat up spluttering and smashed his head into Alaya’s.

“Kriffing hell! Ouch! That’s the last time I do CPR on you.”

He gulped down heavy breaths of air and looked around with confusion before speaking in a scratchy voice, “CPR? What are you talking about?” They were in a cave of some sort, damp and cold with only a smidgeon of light piercing the shadowy space.

She huffed, “You were out of it, not breathing, on death’s door. The whole nine yards. I managed to stop us before we hit the ground but only barely, you passed out.”

His head throbbed as he looked over her, “You look fine?”

“Yeah. Fine. Like I said, I stopped us. We didn’t crash.” She could see his confusion and she sighed, “You… helped somehow. I don’t really get it yet, but whatever you did took a bit too much from you.”

A quiet moment passed as he processed that and Alaya offered him a small smile but it looked strained, “Thanks. Without your help, I… would have done something I regretted.” She stood up and brushed herself off, “We need to get moving sooner rather than later, we don’t have time to play doctor.”

His mouth flapped open; if she were to be believed he was just on the brink of death and now they had to _get moving_? As if to accentuate her point a rumble echoed in the distance followed by a series of skittering noises. He didn’t need much more convincing after that, he pulled himself up trying to ignore the way his head ached, “Where to?”

She glanced into the darkness worriedly, “Back to the escape pod to start, there are some provisions in there we might need.”

He couldn’t stop a snort, “Provisions? Since when are you so proper?”

Her eyes rolled unhappily, “Fine. The escape pod has food, water, a tent, your blaster and most importantly there’s probably a comms system we can salvage.”

He hadn’t even thought about that, they’d need to get off this rock somehow, “Sounds like you’ve got this all planned out.”

A sad smile turned her lips up slightly, “Call it prior experience,” he didn’t know what exactly she meant by that but she apparently wasn’t in the mood to field questions. She set off and Poe trailed behind her, sidestepping the occasional loose rock but at least he didn’t have to duck under as many stalactites as she did. As they moved more light broke through the cloying shadows and he could see where he’d been dragged through the dirt. There was a distinct trail that wound through the short passage and it made him wonder why she hadn’t just carried him with the Force. 

He’d said she looked fine, but on closer inspection, he saw the way her shoulders sagged and how every so often she’d stumble as she walked as if she’d forgotten exactly where she’d wanted to put her feet. He didn’t have the time to ask her about it as they broke into a long canyon, it’s white walls stretched up to the blue sky and Poe had to squint as light bounced between them making them glow softly. They weren’t at the bottom but they were close, the cave had opened onto an outcropping that was just wide enough to stand side by side with Alaya on, but the escape pod was nowhere to be seen. She shaded her eyes with her hand and looked along the canyon cautiously, “Keep an eye out, there were these things here earlier.”

“That’s specific,” Poe mumbled under his breath

“Buggy things. Like beetles or something, they spit this disgusting orange goo,” She snickered at his revolted expression, “Come on, this way.”

She walked a few steps ahead and stepped off the edge of their little plateau, disappearing in an instant. His eyes stretched wide, _Did she just…_

With a degree of panic, he rushed forward and peered over the edge, letting out a relieved breath as he saw Alaya balancing on horizontal columns of coral that reached halfway across the canyon, reaching for similar protrusions on the other side. Held in their precarious grasp was the escape pod, looking on the verge of tumbling into the watery canyon below.

She smiled up at him mischievously, temporarily shelving the exhaustion that had haunted her, “You didn’t think I’d just jump into a canyon, did you?”

“…Maybe,” He eyed the drop-down warily, it was a good couple of meters but he made his way down carefully, grasping at the rough polyps of bleached coral that jutted from the wall. By the time his feet hit the column Alaya was already digging around in the pod, seemingly unconcerned by the way it was rocking.

“I looked around a bit in here while I got you out, if I’m not wrong…” She threw a metal panel behind her and it flew out the door of the pod and down into the canyon, clanging loudly on each rock it hit. Poe approached slowly, not wanting to get hit by the next piece of scrap she threw out and her voice chimed out again, “Could you start getting some of this stuff out?”

He poked his head in and saw her yanking packs out of a small compartment. They looked like the bags people would take camping back on Yavin IV, and he was willing to bet they were stuffed to the brim with supplies. If the pod hadn’t malfunctioned mid-air he’d almost be impressed with First Orders dedication to keeping escapees alive.

With a bit more effort than he would like to admit he pulled one of the heavy packs onto his back, bundling the other in his arms like a ridiculously oversized baby, “Do you want these anywhere in particular?”

“If you can toss them up onto the ledge it’ll save us climbing up with them later,” She sounded disinterested; she’d already moved on to dismantling the console and was flitting between two ports, muttering under her breath as she examined the wiring.

Poe watched her for a moment, unsure whether he should say something but she was otherwise occupied. His teeth caught his lower lip for a moment but he turned and left the pod. He tottered over to the ledge painfully aware of how the packs threw off his balance, but you didn’t get to be a pilot with a fear of heights. With a grunt he threw the packs up, listening to them land with a soft thump. He could go back to Aya but there was something deflated about her that he didn’t quite know how to address. It probably didn’t help that he practically told her to get over her friend's probable death as soon as it happened.

His back found the canyon wall and he sunk down it dejectedly, rubbing his fingers on his throbbing temple as he did. Since when did his life get so complicated?

Well, things weren’t exactly simple beforehand, but in the grand scheme of things they were pretty normal.

His rumination was interrupted by a low buzzing in his ears. At first, he thought he was imagining it, but it was soon accompanied by a distinct skittering. He scrambled to his feet and stared along the canyon suspiciously. _Buggy things. _Large beetles were spilling over the lip of the canyon high above and were approaching like a swarm of homing torpedos.

“Alaya? We need to go.”

Her voice floated out dismissively, “I’m almost done. Can it wait?”

Poe rushed to the pod, “Those bugs are back, and there’s a lot of them.”

Alaya’s head shot up from what she was doing and a worried look crossed her face, “I _need_ to finish this—”

“We _need_ to get out of here before we get eaten by oversized beetles,” He watched as she chewed the inside of her cheek, but a sinking feeling in his stomach told him she’d already made up her mind, “Aya come on we can figure something else out.”

She shook her head and turned back to the console with new vigour, “I’ve almost got it. I just need a few more minutes,” Her fingers were already tugging at a group of wires, “If you can hold them off…”

He let out a longsuffering sigh but scooped up the blaster he’d gotten from that stormtrooper all the way back on the Waystation. It hadn’t been fired yet and if this were the standard-issue E-11 he had about 100 shots between him and murderous insects.

***

Alaya worked feverishly, but the comms system was still entangled deep in the escape pods system intertwined with tracking systems that would call down First Order rescue teams if she wasn’t careful.

She could hear Poe fending off those bugs behind her but even if they didn’t get inside they threw themselves against the metal hull of the pod, rocking it dangerously. She steadied herself against the pilot’s chair as the pod slipped slightly.

If she didn’t get this out now, she wouldn’t get it at all. It would fall the bottom of the canyon, nothing more than useless scrap. Her heart hammered in her chest as adrenaline coursed through her, but no amount of adrenaline could cancel out the heaviness that had settled in her bones nor the way her mind would suddenly lose focus for moments at a time until she willed it back to the task at hand. 

Her fingers just wouldn’t do exactly what she needed them to and she let out a frustrated snarl. She should be able to do this. _Why _couldn’t she do this? Hot tears puddled in her eyes but she blinked them away as best she could before digging back into the guts of the console.

A niggling voice in her head told her that this wasn’t just about this stupid console. She ignored it. At least she was good at that.

“How much longer Aya? I can’t do this forever!”

“I—” The pod shook again teetering dangerously, “I don’t know! I can’t get it out without breaking it completely!”

“Aya, we need to get out of here,” He ducked under a beetle that tried to swoop him, “it’s not safe!”

Her teeth clenched defiantly, “I know that! If you want to go, go! This comm is the best bet we have of getting out of here alive.”

He didn’t reply, but he didn’t leave either. That was something at least.

She could hear more beetles battering against the pod, each impact made the pod slide against the columns that were suspending it. She didn’t want to think about how close it was to sliding off altogether, but she didn't have to think about it for long. One beetle decided to careen into the exact wrong spot and Alaya yelped as she fell forward onto the console. The entire pod jerked and she lay dazed for a moment.

“ALAYA!”

She groaned unhappily at the joystick that had slammed into her stomach and went to get up but froze as the pod swayed dangerously. The pod was dangling above the gaping canyon now, held up by only a few prongs of coral that had caught near the door. Her breath stuttered as she turned herself over, “I’m fine.”

Her voice was barely above a whisper as if even talking would shake the pod free from its precarious hold. She looked back at the comm system, almost free from the grasp of the wiring and back up to the door. Poe was kneeling down with his hand extended towards her, a desperate look in his eyes. Bugs were still swarming above him, but he paid them no mind as he stretched out to reach her.

She could have just grabbed that hand, but instead, she turned her focus to the comm unit. With a bit of a tug, it would probably come loose… without it, all of this would have been for nothing. She looked up at him apologetically and shuffled closer to the piece of tech.

“Don’t—”

It was too late. She ripped it free and sprang up to grab Poe’s hand all in one motion, pushing against the pod that was already beginning its descent into the abyss. She launched upwards and for a moment it felt like she was floating, suspended in time. Her fingers stretched to try and meet Poe’s and she heard the pod collide with the ground, a terrible crunch echoing through the canyon. That could have been her. That still could be her. She almost closed her eyes, she didn’t want to see if she missed or not, but she kept them trained on his face. If that was the last thing she saw, it wouldn’t be so bad.

The tips of her fingers brushed against his palm and suddenly time snapped back into place. She was swinging perilously over the edge, but she wasn’t falling. His hand was clasped firmly around hers and a shaky breath squeezed out of her.

“I’ve got you,” His voice with tinged with disbelief as if he wasn’t quite sure if that had actually worked or not.

She let out something halfway between a sob and a laugh, “You’ve got me.”

He began to haul her up and she was suddenly much more appreciative of his muscles outside of their aesthetic value.

She only had a moment to glance back down at the wreckage once she got to her feet. The bugs were still very much incensed by their presence and the pair raced to the side of the canyon, clambering up the wall as the beetles spat wads of orange that barely missed them. Poe scooped up one of the packs and Alaya followed his lead, sprinting into the tunnel they’d come out from not too long ago.

They came to a small cavern, just as dark as the one they’d been in before. She shed the pack and her hands found her knees as she bent over and sucked down deep breaths. The bugs didn’t seem to have followed them but they weren’t what she had to worry about right now.

Poe stalked towards her angrily, “What did you think you were doing back there?”

She looked up at him with a hint of confusion and went to open her mouth, but he shut her down with a lethal glare. She was taller than him but right now she didn’t feel like it, she stepped back cautiously as he came closer and closer.

“What exactly was your plan?”

His voice was venomous, and a shiver ran down her spine as he herded her towards the cave wall, “W-we needed that comm unit, I was only—”

“You could have _died_ Aya!” Her back hit the wall and suddenly he had her boxed in. Her heart fluttered in her chest. She knew her eyes must have looked like saucers, she hadn’t been expecting this, maybe a quick lecture but this was an entirely different beast. His hand was propped on the wall next to her montrals and for some reason, she had to resist the urge to lean into it like some over-affectionate loth cat.

“I’m sorry.”

“Sorry doesn’t cut it!” His chest was heaving and he seemed to be trying to calm himself down, “If you died…”

She watched his shoulders sag and she reached a tentative hand up to his cheek, “Poe.” He glanced up at her and the look in those eyes made her heart ache. There was a feral sadness dancing behind a facade of anger, “I’m okay. Look, I’m fine.”

She reached for his free hand and pulled it up to her cheek, “I’m still right here.”

He was quiet for a moment as she looked into his chocolate eyes imploringly. His thumb drifted to her lips, ghosting over them softly before he moved his hand to the back of her neck. She felt her breath hitch and Poe drew her in, locking his lips onto hers gently at first but it didn’t take long until she was pressed against the wall as they moved against each other urgently.

His low moan rumbled against her and she smiled against his lips with satisfaction. She pulled back and mumbled quietly, “Just so you know I’m not doing you in a cave.”

He chuckled breathily and nipped at her lekku which twitched happily in response, “Are you sure?”

“No,” she admitted sheepishly, “but I’m gonna try as hard as I can not to.”

Poe pulled back with a shrug, “Your loss, Pumpkin.”

She bit her lip and considered what exactly she was willing to forgo in the name of hygiene, but shook her head at the thought, “I’m sure we’ll be able to make up for lost time later.”

With a smile, he tugged his pack back on and offered hers back to her. She took it gratefully, shoving the comm unit into a spare pocket before swinging it over her shoulders. Poe had clipped the blaster to his belt and despite the wariness that tugged at both of them, they looked ready to begin the trek to the surface.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I try to write these in mini-arcs and I kind of wrote myself into a corner with the last one; it felt repetitive, not super dynamic and kind of long. Don't get me wrong I still liked it but I'm much happier with this chapter! Lemme know what you all think!


	15. Chapter 15

Poe wasn’t exactly sure how she was doing it, but Alaya had led them through each twist and turn of those tunnels with an eerie confidence, navigating through the pitch-black without even stumbling. A thick silence hung between them and all the guidance he really had was a rope pulled between them as they walked, essentially a lead for him to follow. It was a bit demeaning but hey, it worked. Well, it had been working but now the rope hung slack between them.

“Aya? You good?” She didn’t reply. He reached a tentative hand into the darkness searching for her with an unseen frown. His hand brushed against her shoulder and she jumped with a yelp, “Woah, okay it’s just me.”

She let out a relieved sigh, “If you wanted me to yell there are better ways of doing it.”

“_You’re_ the one who ruled out cave sex,” Alaya’s hand darted out shoving his shoulder roughly, “Sorry, sorry. But are you okay?”

“Uh, yeah,” she sounded vaguely evasive, “Just… listening.”

He closed his eyes and tried to focus on the black silence before shaking his head, “What’s there to hear? It seems quiet enough to me.”

Alaya gave a derisive snort, “You wouldn’t be able to hear a bantha if it snuck up behind you with that kind of hardware. I’ve told you before, togs have good hearing. The montrals aren’t just for show, they’re basically mini sonar stations.”

“Oh.” That explained her uncanny sense of direction while he was busy stumbling over rocks left and right, not to mention her exasperation as she looped the rope around his waist, “Well, what’s the hold up then?”

She was quiet again for a moment and he got the distinct impression that she was cocking her head to listen for something.

“I’m… not quite sure. There’s another tunnel shooting off that way.”

“And? More of those bugs hanging out down there?”

She sucked her teeth, “No, nothing like that. It’s more like, well, imagine standing next to a speaker that’s turned up too loud. It’s more than a sound, it’s a feeling.”

“A feeling, or a _feeling_?”

She stopped for a moment, taking a heavy breath, “A _feeling_. I think. I’m too burned out to really tell all that much about it if I'm honest.”

“Okay, so what does that mean for us?”

“It means we should check it out. There’s something down there wants to be found”

His fingers pinched the bridge of his nose_, _“I’m sure I don’t have to tell you why that might be a bad idea.”

“I’m not stupid. But this feels important, it’s not just cave diving for no good reason,” The tinge of frustration in her voice was hard to miss, but he wasn’t in the best mood either.

“I’m exhausted. _You’re _exhausted. Even if it’s important –and I’m not saying it’s not— we’re not in a state to deal with it.”

Her silence was telling, he could almost imagine the way she was gnawing at the inside of her cheek as she thought. He steeled himself for the _no_, for the _I’m going anyway_.

“Okay.”

There was hesitance, but there it was, “Okay?”

“What? Do you want me to disagree? I still can,” Maybe it wasn't an explicit threat but he was smart enough not to question it further.

“I just expected more resistance, that’s all,” Even as he tried to backtrack on his bewilderment, he could hear it laced in his own words.

She scoffed amiably, “I think you’re getting us mixed up, I’m actually quite cooperative.”

Poe let out an indignant snort, “Not when I first met you. Not since then either.”

The rope around his waist tugged. Apparently they were walking again but that didn't stop Alaya's train of conversation, “You’ve been so much more stubborn than I have. I’ll admit I like to negotiate, but when have you ever gotten an outright no from me? You, on the other hand, have a talent for digging your heels in.”

He could disagree but that would just prove her point. And it wasn’t the first time he’d been told something to that effect, Leia's frequent lectures came to mind. Instead, he tried to steer the conversation somewhere else, “So ignoring that slander,” Alaya let out an amused snort but didn’t stop him, “how long do you reckon it’ll be before we get to the surface?”

“No idea. The whole sonar thing isn’t super long-range, it’s meant for hunting, not navigation. Best I can do is keep us heading upwards.”

His eyes widened even if she couldn't see it, “You’ve just been guessing this whole time?” 

“…Well, they’ve been educated guesses," She didn't sound guilty at all which was slightly amusing, "Besides it's not like you could do better, we'd probably be wandering in circles if I let you take the lead."

“I'll give you that one... but on the topic of educated guesses, what was that back there?”

She was quiet for a moment, and Poe could swear he heard her suck in a nervous breath, “Something… I don’t know. Something insistent. I can still feel it there,” Maybe he imagined it, but her voice seemed thinner than before. Strained. “It’s probably a patch of kyber, something stupid like that.”

“Or?”

That thick silence was back, and the only response she gave was a quickening of her steps.

* * *

“Thank the Maker, I thought we’d be stuck down there forever,” Alaya watched Poe stretch out on the nearest rock with quiet amusement, he was splayed in the late afternoon sun like a loth cat in need of a belly rub. He looked up at her apologetically, “Uh, of course, I didn’t doubt your navigational abilities.”

She threw him a wry look as she shaded her eyes from the glare, “I told you I barely knew where I was going, we’re lucky we got out of there.”

“Funny.” His voice was dry but he shifted a little on the spot with a content smile, letting his head drop back so the sun hit his neck. One of his eyes cracked open and glided over to her, “The sun’s gorgeous, you should sit.”

A soft hum was all the agreement she offered.

She lowered herself down next to him and pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them like a blanket. The late afternoon sun hung in the sky, painting it with soft oranges that glowed against the cerulean that she’d glimpsed earlier from down in the canyon. The occasional flossy cloud drifted across the blue expanse, moving along without a care in the world. In a word it was serene. A quiet place defiantly existing in the turbulent galaxy that encompassed it. Sure, it was beautiful, but it rang hollow.

Down in the dark, it was easy to forget that conversation she’d had with Xó, but up here with everything practically glowing… well, it was easy to remember just why her friend wanted to visit. At the time Alaya didn’t give it much thought, now it felt like a final request she ignored.

Poe was studying her as she stared at the sky sombrely, his eyes dancing over her face as if it was a puzzle he couldn’t quite solve. She didn’t duck away from his gaze but she couldn’t bring herself to return it either.

“…You alright?” His voice was tentative, almost annoyingly so. Maybe just for once, he could figure it out for his damn self. She chuckled emptily at herself, only a few hours ago she’d wanted to jump his bones in a dank cave, now she wanted to scream at him and tell him that all of this was his fault. But that wasn’t fair. Part of her knew that.

“No,” It came out softer than she wanted it to. She tightened her grip on her knees and tried to harden her voice, “This whole situation is shit, my life is completely and utterly karked.”

There was a ball of pent up frustration pushing against her chest and up her throat. If she wanted to say more, it was cut off. Maybe that's all she needed to say anyway.

“That doesn’t have to be true." 

“Please don’t give a recruitment speech right now Poe. I’m done with all that,” She looked over at him, almost apologetically, “I don’t… blame you guys. But if I didn’t get involved none of this would have happened.”

She watched as emotions flashed across his face, confusion, anger, maybe a hint of understanding. His next words were more careful but he didn't drop the schtick, “We’ve all lost things. Maybe you could help bring some justice, not just for yourself either.”

“No.” She wiped under her eyes, catching tears that hadn’t even had the chance to fall yet and pushed herself to her feet suddenly. She tried to ignore the way he pulled back from her, hurt, but the look he gave her made her resolve harden. If anyone had the right to be hurt right now it was her. She shook her head quietly, “Let's just find somewhere to set up.” 

* * *

Alaya flinched as her sleeping bag rustled, whoever made these things must have had a vendetta against people wanting to sneak away. Poe shuffled in his sleeping bag but his soft snoring didn’t falter. Even so, she held her breath as she extracted herself from the bag, wincing at each little crackle the stupid thing made.

She felt a stab of guilt, she had made a point of being fine with ignoring whatever was down in the dark and now… well, with everything going on her willpower wasn’t as rock-solid as it used to be. That _thing_ was insistent but really it was her own curiosity that was driving her back down there. In the short time she'd slept her dreams all revolved around that tunnel dipping back underground, like a gaping maw just waiting to swallow her up.

It didn’t scare her, she didn’t have all that much to lose anymore, but there was an undeniable gravity to it; a sense that this should be handled with caution. So Poe could wait up here, safe and sound with the blaster cuddled to his side while she handled the mess down there. If things went south she could only hope he was smart enough to leave it be and get off this rock.

She reached for the tent's zipper when a husky voice interrupted her, “Going somewhere?”

_Shit. _Apparently, she’d vastly overestimated her sneaking skills, “Nowhere. Just need to pee.”

One of his eyes cracked open and looked her over blearily, propping himself up on his elbow, “Need the blaster?”

“I’ll be fine, go back to sleep,” if a tinge of the Force made its way into her command it was unintentional but it helped him settle back down into his sleeping bag. She rolled her eyes with a hint of exasperation, he really did need that help with shielding; that was entirely too easy.

The touch of the night air made her skin tingle pleasantly, but she didn’t have time to spare on enjoying its crisp bite. It wouldn't be long before dawn, and by then Poe would definitely know she wasn't just peeing. They’d made camp just a few hundred metres from the cave entrance on a rare patch of dry land, it only took a minute before she was staring into its mouth. She could hear it again now, just a whisper at the very edges of her mind.

She spared a glance back at their little encampment. Just for a moment.

The way down was slick with salty water and she had step carefully to avoid falling straight onto her ass. Her hand traced along the rough wall, bouncing along the polyps and skirting over the cracks. Time was hard when not a streak of light pushed into the tunnels, but it felt like she came across that offshoot entirely too quickly. If not for the pulsing in her montrals, she would have thought it was the wrong tunnel.

For the first time, she hesitated. Her nap, no matter how short, had brought some clarity back to her senses. Rather than a mess of energy like before, whatever it was took on much more definition now. A dark much deeper than the cave could offer twisted into focus, crackling with intensity and beckoning her closer. It seemed vaguely human but she’d never felt anyone with quite so much… black.

Her hands tightened and with a deep breath she shored up her shielding as best she could. A nausea she didn’t know had been building subsided but she knew her efforts were probably pitiful compared to whatever this anomaly was. She started unsteadily down the tunnel, trying to ignore the way that the sound morphed into words as she drew closer.

Half-formed snippets in familiar tones licked at her sweetly at first. The worst was Xó, her soft voice brushing up against her mind, promising they’d see each other soon, that they’d go back to the way things were. It switched to accusations after a while, _you should have done better_, _you could have saved me_. It was nothing she hadn't already told herself, but it still stung like rolling around on Crait with an open wound.

As the voices grew louder it became harder to focus on finding her way, but after a while, something stood out to her. _That’s different._ She couldn’t see per se, but different materials tended to give different feedback and the hollow thump of the coral walls gave way to a sharp clink. She stretched out in front of her, floundering for a moment before feeling the cold press of metal against her fingers. Her eyes widened, she had supposed that this place was a natural nexus where the Force just happened to go buck wild, but this was man-made.

This was a door but there was no handle, no interface. There was however a mechanism hiding between slabs of steel, designed precisely for someone like her. With a quick nudge the doors began to slide open and as they parted artificial light spilled out onto the floor and flooded the tunnel. With an irritated growl, she brought up a hand to shield her eyes. As her eyes adjusted she stepped inside, a bit of light wasn’t about to dampen her curiosity. Oddly it all seemed perfectly normal, just some storage facility that happened to be eighty feet underground. Except for that sound. Or feeling. Or both. It pressed in on her, a chorus of voices trying to break her down.

“Kriffing hells! Would it kill you to shut up for a moment!” She hadn’t meant to say that, it just spilled out of her lips but apparently it was the right thing to say. The voices reduced down to a swirl of whispering before stopping altogether. She lowered her hand in confusion before muttering to herself, “Well, that’s better I suppose.”

Her eyes flitted around the room, scanning for what exactly was causing such a fuss. As her eyes skipped over all the junk she almost missed the tank in the back corner but something drew her back to it. It looked just like the bacta tank she’d floated in for weeks but with a few extra additions. A shiver jerked up her spine. The glass was frosted, and the liquid inside was an insipid green; if anything she would have expected it to be abandoned, in disrepair, but its console was lit up and chirping happily as if this was perfectly normal.

It was probably a bad idea to approach it, but she was full of bad ideas today.

The glass was cool against her hands, almost soothing. If she squinted she could see something in there, a flesh-coloured mass, floating motionless and obscured by the murky fluid. Next to her, the console flashed brightly with some jargon she didn’t understand, but she’d spent enough time with MX-409 to recognise it as medical. What was more confusing was how this had been powered for so long, based on the dust this place had been here at least since the Empire. As a woman who specialised in logistics, she knew that a stable power source was not only a pain to maintain but expensive too. This place had some serious backing behind it if the pod was still running like this.

Maybe if she spent less time wondering about power supply issues, she would have noticed that thing moving. A gnarled hand stretched out towards her, weak and shaky. By the time it caught her eye it was almost pressed up against the glass right next to hers. With a panicked gasp, she tried to pull back but something held her in place with an iron grip.

“What? Get off—” Her voice was choked off with a pathetic squeak as the hand clenched into a fist.

She couldn’t breathe. Panic welled up inside her, but there was nothing she could do. Whatever it was slowly ripping down her shielding, brick by painful brick, images floated by without her consent. That thing seemed to take great pleasure in sifting through her memories but it settled on that nightmare she’d had. That dark cold place where she couldn’t stop shivering, with that voice grating against her time and time again.

She should have realised; this whole situation was all too familiar. A voice laughed. No. Voices laughed. A chorus of voices she didn’t recognise throbbed through her. Had she been able to keep her eyes open she would have seen the hand growing plumper as she sunk to her knees.

She didn’t remember the last time she felt this weak, this empty. She tried to tug back from the glass again, but her hand may as well have been welded to the glass. Her montrals vaguely registered that karking console beeping frantically but it was through a haze of tumult. Her mind bounced around like a pinball machine, frantic and sacred. Not panicked anymore, genuinely terrified. As much as she wallowed earlier, this wasn’t how she wanted to go.

The only thing that was clear in all this mess was that silvery thread between her and Poe. She could only hope he wasn’t feeling this same thing. He didn’t deserve that, not because of a mistake she made. Every instinct screamed for her to reach out to that cord but she held back. This thing wasn’t having him too.

Maybe that’s how she managed a meagre shield around that little part of her mind. Sheer stubbornness. She wasn’t willing to admit that maybe it was because she cared for Poe a little more than she’d like to. That little bit of resistance seemed to frustrate that thing. Enough for it to lose its focus for just a second. With a yelp, she ripped her hand away and scrambled backwards while taking heaving gulps of air in.

The world snapped back into harsh focus, from the hollering of the console to the salty tears streaking down her face. She didn't know how long she was lying there before she realised that someone was banging on those metal jaws that served as the doors for this place; she hadn't even registered that they’d snapped shut at all. She tried to get up but she couldn’t stop shaking. With a weak sob, she reached out to the door and sent a pulse of energy to it.

The action made her gag. Maybe more than gag. Okay, definitely more than gag. Vomit forced its way out of her mouth and into a disgusting puddle that she was partially collapsed in. With a hiccup, she forced her eyes upwards to see Poe skidding into the room.

Force, what she must have looked like right now.

“Aya—”

She lifted an arm weakly and pushed him back with a short burst of energy as he tried to get to her, “No. Don’t come closer. It… Don’t.”

Words were _hard_ but he seemed to get the message. Composing herself as best she could she pushed herself to her knees, ignoring the way her fingers slipped in her own vomit. Gross.

She was on her feet soon enough, stumbling to the completely confused man that was more than willing to grab her, regardless of the state she was in.

His voice was like a sedative, soothing each of her frayed nerves, “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

That sounded great to her but she was shaking her head before she realised it, “No. That thing. We need to kill it.”

Poe hesitated. Kriff, she would too if she walked in on this mess, “…What is it?”

“I don’t know. I don’t care. It’s an _abomination_.”

He looked down at her with concern but nodded slowly, “Okay. I’ll do it, you wait here.” He propped her gently against a wall and she sagged against it gratefully. She watched as Poe snaked towards that vat and something inside her clenched. She tried to push off the wall, to help him, but he turned back and gave her a warning look.

He was right, of course. She could barely stand and if that thing got its claws into her again she wasn’t sure she could buck it again. Her eyes were pulled shut by exhaustion but they were ripped open soon enough by the sound of shattering glass. There Poe was, standing in a mess of glass and slime with a wrinkled body curled like a fetus at his feet. He’d picked up some old artefact that served well enough as a baton and cracked open that unnerving pod like an egg.

Maybe she should have been disgusted, but all she felt was an overwhelming fondness. He probably could have shut it down with the console but instead, he’d gone all out. Kark if that didn’t feel good. With the tip of his boot, Poe pushed the man onto his back.

“Oh, gross Poe we don’t need to see that.” The light tone of her voice surprised her but seeing that thing splayed out naked on the ground with about as much dignity as a stuck pig was somewhat gratifying.

He looked back at her with a grimace and pushed him back onto his side, “You’re right. I think I’ll be having nightmares for months.”

The light smile she’d managed to muster dropped instantly. He winced apologetically but she just sighed, “Don’t worry. I’ll… be fine. Let’s just get out of here. That thing can rot down here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Teehee I'm back after sorting out some narrative concerns 
> 
> Also, I might regret it but I'm going to try and fix Palpatine. Or at least give some explanation for it cause that was unsatisfying as fuck in TROS. Idk if it's a spoiler to say this but that thing was 100% a failed palpy clone so take from that what you will.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave feedback, kudos, the whole shebang! I wanna know what you guys think of my blatant wish fulfilment :D


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